Fury
by Meldamiriel123
Summary: Jade Simms is a teen with some serious problems. Not only is she dreaming of events that are actually happening, strange things are beginning to happen to her. As Jade deals with being adopted, she realises there is more to her than she ever knew.
1. Chapter 1

**One**

'I...will...you...nothing!' I jerked awake, instantly freaked out as my mind caught up. Blinking rapidly, I sat up in my own bed looking around, running a hand through my hair. Dad opened my door and I stared into his face that was shrouded in darkness.

'Hey kiddo, are you okay?' He asked searching my stricken face.

'Sure.' I said biting my lip. No way was I going to tell him that I'd been dreaming of Caleb Danvers ascending. I wasn't even supposed to know what they were. I wasn't supposed to know anything. But I did. I knew I was adopted. I knew my records were sealed. I knew Caleb, Pogue, Reid and Tyler my adopted brother and our families were in danger. Yet, as soon as I had dreamt Pogue being attacked by a man with black eyes, I'd packed an overnight bag and left my god awful boarding school.

My parents who were terrified I'd find out the family secret, had sent me two hours away to a boarding school called Ryder's Academy for Girls that would help me get into Harvard. I had no intention of going to college but I didn't want to tell them that.

Looking at my alarm clock, I saw the time and bit my lip. It was twenty past twelve. Why had I even bothered to go to sleep for? It was Caleb's birthday but I'd spent most of the week sculling coffee so I wouldn't dream of The Sons of Ipswich. Yet tonight I must have conked out on the couch because I had no idea how I had gotten into bed. I wondered how Caleb was doing. If I was still asleep, I'd probably know everything by now.

'Do you want to talk?' My dad asked and I stared into this man's face as he came into view. Glenn Simms was mid forties, but looked a little older due to his power usage that he kept under a tight control. He had thick coffee coloured curly hair that he kept short just like my brother. In fact my brother Tyler was the spitting image of him. Both of them were quiet, intelligent and too god damn protective over me. My mother Rosalind was a happy go lucky woman who stayed away from her son and husbands weirdness.

Well, unfortunately mom was going to have to deal with my weirdness if the truth ever came out.

My dad was still staring at me, his concern growing. I knew because I couldn't see it, I could feel it.

'I'm fine dad,' reciting a line I always used. I knew he didn't believe me but he didn't press me because I started to pull my sweater over my head. Shutting my door left me in darkness and I scrambled out of the rest of my clothes. Once I was only lying in my tank and undies, I fell back and tried to shut my mind off.

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Morning came too quickly and I woke up with a start. The heavy dread that had hung around me this entire week had disappeared but I was still worried. Kate and Pogue had been attacked by some creep and were still in hospital. Flicking the covers off, I changed into clothes and walked to the mirror. I was surprised the dark circles under my eyes had vanished. I was beginning to think they had been permanently tattooed onto my face.

'Sweetie are you awake?' Mum asked and I turned to see her opening my door. She must have been dyeing her hair honey blonde because I couldn't see one single strand of grey. As usual mom's hair was perfectly styled in soft waves. Walking into my room with a tray, I knew I wasn't going to get out of eating. She'd watch me until I finished if I told her I wasn't hungry. I was glad when it was a bacon and cheese toasted sandwich and a glass of strawberry flavoured milk and not a pile of pancakes. I sat down on my bed and ran a hand through my faded purple hair. The teachers were constantly hounding me for dyeing my hair but nothing they said made a difference. I wasn't like them and their opinion didn't matter.

'Can we visit Pogue today?' I wasn't really asking. I'd go with or without permission. I needed to know he was okay. I took the tray off of mom and began to eat. The warm buttery taste made me sigh in contentment. I had missed my mom's cooking. The school put out decent food but I hadn't coped with the six weeks of seperation. Maybe I would have felt better had my brothers or family messaged me but as soon as I was gone, I had ceased to exist. Hell, I'd only been gone a little over a month and texting me wouldn't have killed them.

Now I was back and they were going to regret abandoning me. If they sent me away again, I was going to run so far they'd never find me.

Mum nodded breaking into my thoughts. 'Of course you can, Jadey but don't you want to spend some time with your friends?' Seriously? She actually thought I had friends waiting for me here. Yeah right. People were only nice to me because they wanted to hang out with my brothers.

'What friends? I don't have any.' I couldn't keep the bite out of my tone if I tried but I felt salty. I'd been stuck at Ryder's Academy and it freaking sucked. The people and the teachers, hell even the food sucked. I'd rather have gone to Spencer with my brothers' which was saying something of how deserate I was but no, they'd sent me away to protect me from a stupid secret I already knew about.

'Jadey, that school is great.' Mom said in a consoling voice.

'If you like it there so much, why don't you go in my place?' I snapped losing my appetite. I got to my feet and gathered my plate and cup. I drained the cup so fast it would have made Ty proud.

'Jade, we sent you there to give you your best chance.'

'Right. Because abandoning me there for a month and cutting off contact was you giving me my best chance.' I sarcastically spat in her face as I stalked to the bathroom slamming the door right in her astonished face.

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Pogue was somehow brighter than he had been yesterday. He was awake for one thing. I would have believed the gem had worked but I knew it was because the bad guy had disappeared. I knew no one was thinking too hard about where he was. Well, I was. If that bad guy really had been burnt in the Putnum barn there would be a body, but I wasn't supposed to know any of this. I had to pretend that my big brother who had been riding motorcycles since he was a kid, had lost control in the rain on roads he knew like the back of his hand. Yeah.

Reid swaggered in, tossing his blonde fringe out of his eyes as his blue eyes scanned me. I turned away glaring at the wall. Stupid guy. He was Tyler's best friend and a royal pain in my ass. Pogue poked me sharply and I resisted the urge to poke him back. He was aready on pain relief and I suspected he was a little high. He kept asking for Kate even though he knew she was a few floors down. When Tyler appeared, the room began to close in. Sucking in a breath, I started to get off the bed where I had perched myself.

'Here.' Pogue muttered thrusting the warm gem into my hands.

'How did you know I gave this to you?' I asked surprised.

'Kid, you're the only one that messes with those rocks.'

'Gems have healing properties and look you're already looking better. Although now you have a reason to fix your nose.' I sniggered.

'What happened to my nose?' He asked in shock. Leaving the boys to console my big brother, I dashed from the room and headed off to see Kate. When I got to her room, I was annoyed when I saw the blonde girl from my dreams. It wasn't hard to figure out why I didn't like her. This girl had been in Caleb's life for like a week and not only knew about the family secret, she accepted him a little too fast. No one did that.

Kate was sitting up and she smiled at me as I crawled onto her bed and curled up next to her. Kate hugged me hard and I leaned into her.

'Who are you?' Sarah asked bluntly. Wow, talk about a lack of manners.

'I'm Jade. Who the fuck are you?' She looked taken aback, her light blue eyes widening at my rudeness.

'Jadey, this is Sarah, she's with Caleb.' Kate said poking me.

I let out a bark of disbelief. 'Right. My brother doesn't date.' Wow I was playing the bratty sister too well. I deserved a medal or something. I'd settle for a cookie though.

'Sister? Caleb doesn't have any siblings.'

'She's Tyler's sister.' Kate informed her, tugging on my ends tittering. I knew a trip to a hair salon was in my future.

'Yeah but...Caleb told me about their families. He told me they only have one kid.'

'I'm freaking adopted. Duh!' I exclaimed. Wow, she really was a blonde. It wasn't that hard to figure out Ty and I looked nothing alike.

'What?' Kate asked with a frown. Crap, I had forgotten she didn't know about that, or maybe she did and was pretending not to know. I didn't trust that Sarah could keep a secret but if she wanted to make it to Harvard she was going to.

I turned back to Kate. 'I don't look like my mum or dad at all. Mum and dad are tall and I'm barely five foot two.' I replied looked at Kate who stared at me for a long moment. 'If I was their kid I'd have either blonde or brown hair. It's chocolate-auburn and I checked the photos of our relatives. No one had hair like mine or my grey eyes, or my cheek bones, and did Tyler need braces? No. I'm telling you I'm not blood related to these people.'

'Does anyone know you suspect?' Kate whispered hugging me harder.

'I already broke into the admissions office last week and saw that my records were sealed by the courts.' I confirmed. That hadn't been hard. I hid in the bathroom after class until the staff had left. Luckily all the files were in a dodgy cabinet that could be easily open if you knew how to pry it open which I did because I'd had to serve a detention in the reception last Wednesday, and had realized that the lock the door opened if you jiggled it. That had been my first and hopefully my last break in. Yet, I smirked at the memory.

'I'm sorry you found out that way.' Kate whispered softly.

'Don't be. Just don't tell anyone, okay?' I was going to find out who my birth parents were and I knew Kate wouldn't stop me but the others might try. I was already pissed of with them and didn't need to add another reason.

'Why don't you ask your parents?' Sarah asked folding her arms.

'That'll go down well. Hi mom and dad, am I adopted?' I replied sarcastically.

'Jade, stop it. You're too old to be bratty.' Kate chided.

'I'm allowed to be bratty. Once again this family is pushing me out and I don't like it. Caleb is _my_ brother and _she_ didn't even know I existed until now. Maybe I should have been adopted into a family that wouldn't throw me away when they're bored of me.' I snapped getting up.

'Jade, you know it's not like that.' Kate urged as I appoached the door. 'Please don't be mad. I bet there's an explanation. Stay and talk this out with me.'

'What's there to talk about? They don't give a crap about me anymore.' Turning, I fled.

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The rain was pelting down on the windows, mirroring my emotions as I sat on the wall length cushioned seat in my treehouse. Dad had made my refuge for me when I had taken to climbing the tree years ago. Over the years, he'd changed a lot of things. The main floor was on a deck half a metre off the ground and a wooden deck went around the whole tree. The deck was furnished with deck chairs and it was lovely to sit out there reading or drinking iced tea on summer days. Inside, there was a spacious living room with a kitchenette. Next to the kitchenette was a wooden spiral staircase that led to the next level which was my bedroom that faced east. The floors and walls were different shades of light brown, and it smelt very woodsy. Bookcases lined the walls of both rooms. I had a long purple couch and two purple arm chairs to sit in, I also had a wide screened television but hardly used it. Here, in my little paradise, it was easy to imagine that I was in a different realm like Lord Of The Rings. I'd been staying here for the past two nights. Mostly because mom and dads lovey-dovey attitude had been endlessly bugging me. I was thinking about making a snack of pizza pinwheels when a tap on my door scared the hell out of me. Usually no one could sneak up on me anymore because of my ability, so I was a little unnerved when I saw Caleb standing on my door stoop. Usually he just walked right in making himself at home. Today he didn't, and I had the feeling something was about to go down. I opened the door and stepped aside. The tall, lanky six-foot-two guy walked right in and took off his brown jacket, hung it on the coatrack and sat down on my purple couch. I could tell without a word that he was feeling cofused, torn, and hurt. Why he was feeling those emotions was beyond me.

Placing one foot on his knee, he folded his arms. Usually when Caleb sat down, he'd lean back. Today, he was sitting straight but tense and he kept looking at the door.

'Okay, is this the part where you yell at me for running away from school but let me remind you that you're not my dad, and you can't tell me what to do.'

'Jade running away was a stupid move and you know it. Anything could have happened to you. Did you bother to think how we would feel if something had happened to you?' Oh so he was playing the guilt trip card? _Wrong play Cay_ , I thought savagely.

'My brother and Kate were hospitalized in a single night. What did you all expect me to do? Oh wait, you didn't think about me at all. Tim was the one who called me because his aunt is a nurse.' I snapped going to the fridge. I grabbed two cans of soda and tossed one at him. I watched him open it, half hoping it would fizz up on him. No such luck. He took his sweet time taking a long drink before putting the can on the coffee table.

'Jade, the world doesn't revolve around you.'

'Oh so you think I'm being conceited because I give a shit? Okay, well fine. I'll stop. Get the fuck out of my house.'

'Jade.'

'Caleb.' I mimicked his voice and he narrowed his eyes at me. Years ago I couldn't outstare him but I was royally pissed off. My eyes hardened and he flinched slightly.

He stayed silent for a long moment. He was agravated and gritted his teeth. I knew he was thinking of what to say next. He hated conflict.

'Spit it out.' I growled walking closer to him, and perched myself on the arm of the couch, glaring down at him.

'What?'

'You're trying to figure out what to say next.' I muttered as I opened my can and took a sip. The soothing cold bubbles ran down my throat but it did nothing to calm the raging fire burning inside of me.

Caleb's dark eyes searched my face. 'You think we abandoned you.'

'Damn fucking straight.' I snarled at him. That is _exactly_ what had happened.

'Language.' He growled. Snorting, I walked to the couch and sank down on it.

'Do you have any idea how I feel? I was tossed away like garbage. Did I hear from mom and dad? No. Only Tim called and texted me every day, which is weird because the bloody jock is a functional mute!'

'I love you.' Caleb blurted taking me completly by surprise. I sat there in shock for a long moment. I knew he and the other two guys loved me as much as Tyler did, that's why I called them my family but Caleb had never said those words to me. Something broke inside me and suddenly I was a bawling sobbing mess. Gathering me to his chest, I clung to him like a scared kid, our fight forgotten for the moment.

'I love you too.' I whispered hiding my face into his shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

**Two**

Nicky's bar was packed. After two emotional days, Reid and Ty appeared at my doorstep. Without a word, both of them herded me to Ty's hummar. They'd both been apologetic about not texting me while I was at that awful academy but I wasn't listeningto their excuses anymore.

I got the sense they had been ordered to bring me out. If this was an attempt to appease me, they were dead wrong. The afternoon hadn't calmed my rage, in fact, Caleb had ignited it again the second he told me the blonde girl had blabbed about my suspicions of being adopted. I knew Caleb could keep a secret but his reaction hadn't fooled me one bit. He knew I was adopted and he'd flat out hidden it from me all these years, they all had.

Instead, I'd called him a big fat liar and other witty worded phrases. He'd left after I punched him on the nose. The rest of the afternoon passed quite quickly and I'd gotten to an almost calmed down until my brothers' had shown up out of the blue.

The first thing I noticed in this crowded bar was Kira. She was a tall, curly redhead standing next to a guy called Aaron. She was caressing his arm in a weird obsessed way, even though he was completly oblivious to her. Still, something made me want to deck the older girl even though she hadn't started anything with me, yet. Casting the sudden violent thought aside, we found Pogue sitting at a table, looking his usual cheerful self. Kate was practically glowing and she waved madly when she saw us. Sarah was sitting on Caleb's lap and I resisted the urge to smack her. It seemed I had a choice to make. Either I accepted her as part as the pack, or I left. After watching them together for thirty seconds, I made my choice. I broke away from my brothers and headed for the bar. Crawling onto the only spare seat, Nicky gave me his usual teethy grin that calmed the fire that was smouldering inside.

'I wondered how long you'd last at that fancy shcmancy school of yours,' he teased shaking his round face at me, while his blue eyes glinted.

'You know me, I missed your cheeseburgers. The school food sucked.' I replied with a grimace.

'Well don't worry, I'll save you from starvation.' The big bald man said. Nicky might look like a rough tough bikie with his beefed up bod and goatie but he had a heart of gold. His nephew Tim had the same rough around the edges kind of look and attitude. I looked around, spying him at the pool table in his usual jeans and black t-shirt, his light brown hair sticking up in every direction. He started to turn and I ducked my head hoping he and his friends hadn't seen me ogling him. All I needed was any of them thinking I liked him. I'd have a host of girls wanting to bash my brains in. He was my friend and he'd often used me to get away from girls that were too clingly. I didn't mind. It meant I'd get to have him to myself for a while and after all, he had been the only one to message me while I was at Ryder's. I'd eat and then go see him. He alone had known I was coming home and hadn't bothered to attempt changing my mind.

Nicky appeared minutes later with a burger and a huge amount of fries. I started to dish out my wallet but he waved me off with a smile. In seconds he'd filled a glass with Sprite and planted it in front of me.

'Family doesn't pay.' He reminded me and I grinned.

'Thanks.' I said swivelling in my seat, I saw Pogue waving me over through narrowed eyes and my tiny smile vanished when I noticed Sarah peek in my direction. Yeah, she knew she'd screwed up. Shooting daggers at her, I forced myself back around, showing them my back. Waves of annoyance from Caleb hit me, Pogue's confusion made me feel guilty, but my anger sparked when I sensed Reid looking at a girl he was attracted to. As usual, Ty was feeling hungry. Centering myself, I managed to block everyone out and I turned my attention to my delicious burger taking a bite, moaning happily as I slowly chewed. Once I was finished with my meal, I vacated the spot and grabbed my glass. Tim was still at the pool table leaning over showing off his toned butt, not that I looked. Okay, I did a little, but hey I was single and as far as I knew, he was too. A couple of his friends nodded to me, looking at me in surprise as I approached. I'd never really been accepted into their crowd since all of them but Jake went to Spencer, but Tim missed his shot because he suddenly turned to look at me. His smile was infectious.

'Jadey? Are you really here? I thought you were under house arrest.'

'I'm a freaking ghost. I died of boredom.' I replied in my famous dead voice. He stood up, towering over me. When he casually wrapped an arm around me, hugging me to his side, I felt jabs of irritation from four different directions, yet I felt fuzzy warm inside. Oh darn it. I shouldn't be so darn happy to see him.

'So does this mean you're coming back home?' Tim sounded hopeful.

'Yup, but I'm not going to Spencer. The uniforms are ugly.'

'Ooh that must hurt.' Kira sneered.

I broke away from Tim, staring at the redheaded girl in disdain. 'Why would that hurt for? Didn't I just say that your uniforms are butt ugly? But then again, I bet those uniforms match your personality.' I replied through narrow eyes. Ooh if looks could kill, I'd be ash by now. I don't know why I was willing her to swing a punch, I wasn't normally this violent minded. Quelling the rage inside me, I looked at her friend who should be a shade of green by now.

'Stop with the jealousy honey, it's bad karma. You'll get grey hairs and wrinkles.' I winked as I sipped on my drink. The platinum blonde haired girl scoffed and stalked away.

'You should respect your elders.' Kira scolded.

'I will when I find some.' I countered with a cocky grin.

'Kira, leave the kid alone.' Aaron finally muttered. Holy poop. Had Aaron grown a spine since I was gone? That was news. He was looking over at my brothers' who were watching me like hawks, Reid had already started getting out of his chair. Aaron smirked at them and pulled into a close hug. Because Reid and Tyler ofter hung out with the punk, I'd often tagged along so we had this flirtatious game going on that drove my brothers' not to mention Kira crazy. I almost laughed when he dipped his head making it look like he was gonna kiss my shoulder. I giggled quietly while his shoulders shook with silent laughter.

'Your brothers' are dying.' He whispered.

'It's great, isn't it?' I whispered back. Behind me, waves of annoyance hit me and I realized it was coming from Tim. Ending the hug, I fist bumped Jake who had grown a little taller and was defintely working out. He played football at my old school and defintely had dreams of playing college ball. He wasn't like a typical jock, Jake got along with pretty much everyone. He could befriend a pot plant.

'Yo we gonna play or not?' Jake asked his tone laced with boredom.

'Dude, it's your shot.' Tim replied evenly, as he watched Aaron tugging the ends of my hair, frowning.

Aaron tugged on my hair harder and I turned to tell him to knock it off. 'No offense but you aren't looking your best, kid.' He said and I knew he was noticing I'd lost some weight. Damn, if he had noticed, Tim and Jake definitely had.

'Well, had I known I was going to be dragged here kicking and screaming I would have dyed my hair black.'

'To match your black heart?' Jake joked.

'At least we'd match, punk.' I replied with a wink. He grinned, walked around the table, lined up his shot and missed. Tim smirked as Aaron leant on the table and just like that our conversation was over and it was back to business.

I watched the rowdy boys play while I ignored the salty girls, sipping on my drink until the glass was empty. I went to the bar and Nicky handed me another drink. I was headed back when music exploded from the juke box. Without turning, I knew Sarah was dragging Caleb up to dance which would have been hiliarious to watch if I wasn't so pissed at them both. Instead, Tim left his friends and met me halfway. He took my drink, downed it and left it on a table, not caring about the glare the two girls sent his way and took my hand. Without a word to my brothers' he led me out into the crisp cool slightly salty air. I could feel their eyes on my back though. I was half expecting one of them to appear and drag me away from him. Personally, I was hoping for another shot to tear Caleb a new one.

'Is this the part where you kidnap me?' I half joked as he walked to his black and red Ducati, swung a leg over and straddled it.

'You coming for a ride or not?' I sensed his hopefulness and worry as he looked me over, but the tone in his voice said another thing. He wanted to show he didn't really care if I agreed or not. Weird. He must have forgotten I was empathic or he just didn't care if I knew how he truly felt.

'Sure.' I said hopping up behind him. The heat radiating from his body warmed me and I sighed wrapping my arms around his warm body. 'Where are we going?' I asked.

'Our spot.' He said quietly. Seconds later we were tearing down the quiet streets. Our spot was a cove a few miles out of town. It was quiet and only the slight lapping of waves could be heard. I saw the tire tracks and looked at him as he stopped the bike. It was a good thing the moon was almost full because neither of us had a flashlight and I didn't like our chances of getting down the hill unscathed. The last thing I needed was to fall down the hill and end up in the water. I'd be in a panicked mess for hours.

'Do you bring your other girlfriends here?' I teased.

'You know this is my place to think and draw.' He said giving me a sideways look as he jumped over the wooden fence like it was nothing.

'Right. So you've never taken a girl here to make out.' I teased hopping over the fence following him as he started for the slope.

Tim half turned eyeing me from the corner of his eye. 'Why are you so interested for?'

'One of us has to get laid at least once this year.'

'Wait, what?' He snapped, yanking me to a stop while his eyes flashed in anger.

'What?' I complained while he glared down at me.

'Don't be like those girls.' He pleaded. It was so cute.

'What girls?'

'The ones that sleep with dumb guys who don't love them.'

'I'm not, Tim. Calm down. I went to an all girls school for a month and I'm a little boy crazy right now. It doesn't help that you got even more hotter while I was away. How did _that_ even happen?' I had no idea why I was rambling and I bit my lip and looked away blushing furiously. Luckily it was too dark to see my burning cheeks.

Shaking his head at me he let out a hollow laugh. 'You must be on heat or something.' I could tell he didn't believe a word I'd said about him. His self doubt was very clear. How could he think I was lying to him? He knew me better than that, didn't he? A second later, I was doubting myself.

'What about those girls in your pack? They want nothing more than to be with you.'

'Is it because I'm a jock or because of my winning personality?' He asked sarcastically as he started down the hill.

'Maybe both? Who knows. I'm an empath not a mind reader.' I reminded him. Tim sighed and looked at me.

'If I date one of those girls', they'll hate each other. They're competing all the time for us to notice them. It does my head in.'

I shrugged lazily. 'What do you expect? You're on the football team. Jocks always get the pretty girls.'

'Maybe I don't want any of them.' Tim pointed out gruffly. He turned away and his irritation hit me like a ton of bricks. I stomped after him. I slid on the wet grass and he sighed and grabbed my hand steadying me.

'Who do you want then?' I asked quietly. Why did I want to know, and why did I care so much?

'I don't know. I'm trying to stay focused so I can get a scholarship and get the fuck out of here.' He said turning and picking his way slowly down the slope. I had to hand it to him, he knew where to step and never slipped. I however was feeling slighly terrified. This wasn't a great place to have a little tumble.

'You love it here in Ipswich. Why would you want to leave?'

'It sucked being here without you, you know?' He asked evading the question. Any other night, I might not push, he was pretty private but tonight I couldn't resist. He'd listened to my rants about that stupid school for an entire month, and I'd been more than a little self-absorbed. What was going on with him?

'Okay so don't tell me the truth.' I muttered.

'Jade, I'm telling you the truth. Can't you tell?'

Okay, so I could tell he wasn't lying but this was weird. Tim barely spoke about his feelings and now he was telling me stuff I wasn't sure I wanted to hear. 'Tim. I was only gone a month. Don't go all stalker boy on me. Besides it's not like we used to hang out all the time.' I pointed out. It was true. He'd been so angry with me a year ago when I'd found the place where he drew his comics, a nerdy talent he had kept to himself. He was amazing and I kept telling him to find a publisher, but he never listened.

'Yeah and at first we couldn't stand each other. We'd run into each other here and it was intrusive and you were so bratty. But then I got to know you and I realized you're different from those other girls but then you left and it royally sucked. I missed you.' He admitted, helping me down the last bit of the slope.

'I missed you too.' I mumbled.

'Why are you sad? Missing someone isn't a bad thing.'

Shrugging lazily, I let out the breath I'd been holding onto. 'You were the only one that texted me pretty much the whole time I was away. I guess I was too busy wallowing in self pity to notice you weren't happy either.'

Tim sat down on the log pulling me onto his lap wrapping his arms around me. I leant into him and breathed in his calming scent. This whole hugging thing was new to us and it kinda felt nice. All of my dark emotions faded into the distance and my mind became very clear.

'Jade?' Tim asked softly.

'Yeah?'

'Tell me you're staying.'

'I am.'

'Good.' He whispered, tipping my chin and kissed me lightly. I was instantly lightheaded, and tingly and craving more, all at the same time. Wrapping my arms around him, he pulled me closer, deepening the kisses. When his tongue tasted my lip I sensed someone's annoyance and worry from above. I stopped, peering around him.

'What?' Tim asked softly, blinking up at me.

'Someone's coming.' I hissed scrambling off his lap. Tyler appeared out of nowhere. I could have died from embarassment. Had he seen us? The death glare he threw at Tim told me he did. Whoops.

'What are you two doing down here?' He demanded even though he knew damn well what we'd been doing.

'We're just catching up. How did you find me anyway?' I asked switching the subject back to him. I soooo didn't want him asking about why I was making out with my friend because I didn't have an answer to that.

'How do you think? Come on Jade, I'm taking you home.'

'I can take her.' Tim offered as he stood up.

'You're not taking her anywhere. If I ever see you near my sister again, I'll break your face.' He snarled reaching for me.

'Whoa, Ty, it's Tim. You know my friend, the only one who messaged me while I was stuck in that school. I want to hang out with him and you can't stop me.'

'Oh shut up about that. I was fucking busy.'

'Yeah, too busy for your family. I get it.' I scoffed.

'Let it go.' Tyler growled at me as grabbed me and forced me up the hill. Yanking clear of him, I slipped on wet grass and fell backwards shrieking. The last thing I saw was the starry night, then a sharp impact in the back of my head. Pain exploded and I gasped as everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

**Three**

'Ow,' I growled. An irritating distorted beeping to my left told me where I was as did the burning scent of bleach. I swallowed hard as I opened my eyes and groaned. Someone had brought me to the hospital. That meant I must have been really hurt but for the life of me I couldn't remember why. My eyesight was blurry but I'd been concussed enough to know my vision would return to normal soon. I tried to remember what happened and for a few long moments the memories were pretty fuzzy. Finally I remembered the fall. I narrowed my eyes in annoyance. Seconds later someone started talking to me and I squeezed my eyes shut as I tried to focus. Just as I was starting to panic, my hearing cleared up pretty quickly but before I could puzzle it out, I sensed someone next to me.

'How are you feeling?' Mom asked me. She felt shocked and I sat up, ignoring the dizziness and pressed my fingers over my scalp trying to find where I'd been hit. I thought there would be pain when I moved, but if anything, my sight was clearing up and where there should be a huge bump all I found was a little tender spot on the back of my head. Cracking my neck, she winced as I flicked the blankets off. I should be feeling sick, heck I shouldn't even want to move without vomiting. I'd had enough concussions from playing basketball to know what one felt like and I felt normal. I looked at Ty who was watching me, his confusion mirroring mine. When I caught Tim's eye, his eyes were narrowed in suspicion. Before I could snap at them both to knock it off, he got up and strode out of the room. Mom became very stressed and as I honed in on it, I caught something else as she looked at my brother. Fear.

'I'll get the doctor.' She disappeared while I looked at Ty who hadn't moved an inch which was unlike him. His stillness was scary.

'You're drilling a hole through my skull.' I said cracking my neck again.

'The doctors said you had a serious concussion and and it's been an hour since you were admitted. They didn't even know when you'd wake up.' He said in a flat voice. 'How did you heal yourself?'

'What makes you think I'm healed?'

'Who are you?' He asked in a thick voice.

'Are you serious right now? Did I wake up in an alternate reality? I'm your sister. Maybe I should be asking you these questions.'

'You've been acting different since you came home.'

'So what, you think I have an evil twin and we switched places? Good one Tyler. Haha.'

Tyler's eyes flashed gold and black before before returning back to his normal blue eyes. I felt something enter my mind, a voice whispered something to me but I couldn't focus on it because I was feeling this insane urge to talk. Oh so he was going to compell me to tell the truth? Who did he think I was? That douchebag who had messed with them? What an idiot.

'I'm your adopted sister Jade Simms. That's who I am.' I bit out. I had this insane urge to run from him and I didn't think I'd be able to hold back for much longer. He was scaring the hell out of me. _Run,_ the voice urged louder in my head.

'What did you just say?' He whispered in shock.

'You heard me.' I snapped shoving myself off the bed. Ramming my forearms against his chest, he stumbled back and I ran out, not caring that I was wearing hospital clothes.

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I don't know why I ran the whole way to Spencer Academy, only stopping once to puke up my dinner. Streaking through the hallways of the dark school, I stopped when I got to Kate's room. She had a spare bed but as soon as I opened her door without knocking, I saw her and Sarah in deep conversation on her bed. Kate was wearing flimsy see-through lingerie, the sort of stuff that would make Pogue drool.

'Hey, I heard you were in the hospital. What happened?' Kate asked, clearly surprised while I hung out in the doorway. Oh dear god, all I needed for blabbermouth to start telling everyone where I was.

'It's nothing. I hit my head and blacked out. No biggie. Ty overreacted.'

'Jade, you look like you've run a marathon and you're white as a ghost. Why don't you come and sit down and I'll find you something to wear. You must be freezing.'

Now that she mentioned it I was shaking, but it was probably the adrenaline coursing through my veins a mile a minute. 'This is a mistake, I have to go.' I said backing out. I'd turned around but her hands suddenly grabbed my arm. I wanted to wrench my arm out of her grip but I didn't. Instead, I went as docile as a puppy and I watched stunned as she let go and hunted for a long purple long sleeved t-shirt she used for cold nights. The pants I was wearing were good enough. Tossing it at me, I yanked the hospital shirt over my head and tossed it in the bin without looking. Pulling the shirt over my head, Kate appeared with a spare pink toothbrush and half a tube of toothpaste. I disappeared and walked out towards the bathroom. Once I was done washing my mouth, I returned to her room, placed the toothpaste in its correct place because Kate was a bit prickly if her things were moved, and headed for the door eager for a hasty retreat.

'Where do you think you're going?'

'Um, Reid is probably still up gaming. I was going to join him.' Before she could try to convince me to stay, I ducked through the door and bolted towards Reid's room. Reid was sitting in his underwear gaming when I walked in on him. I watched someone kill him and he swore, yanking the headset from his ear tossing it to the floor.

'I need to borrow your phone.' I said as he watched me with open curiosity.

'I thought you were in hospital.'

'I escaped.' I said snatching his phone scrolling through his contacts. Pressing Caleb's name, I heard the phone ringing. After four rings, he answered.

'This better be an emergency.' He said sleepily. I looked at the clock and saw it was barely past midnight. What was Caleb doing sleeping? He should be hanging with the boys.

'Can you come and get me? Ty and mom were acting strange in the hospital, please, I don't want to go home. I'm with Reid and he's kinda naked. I feel sick.' I said ignoring Reid's chuckle.

'Okay.' He replied with a sigh. I listened to him start to get out of bed and get dressed. Finally I heard him pick up his keys.

'Be there in fifteen.' He muttered hanging up.

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Caleb's silver convertable pulled to a stop outside of the gates fifteen minutes later. 'Okay, so what's the emergency?' He asked as soon as I slid inside the warm car. Pulling the seat belt around me, he took off, and I sighed.

'Something strange is happening to me.' I said as I began to explain everything. I explained about my empathy and the dreams about him glossing over how much I knew, not to mention the sudden urges to beat people who pissed me off for no reason. Then I mumbled something about my newly found healing ability. I knew I should be feeling like crap but my mind was clear, and I the only reason I had puked before was from the nerves. When I told him Tyler's eyes had done the weird flashy thing and compelled me to tell him the truth, his eyes narrowed in annoyance. The whole time, Caleb stayed silent only looking at me whenever something I said unnerved him.

We got to his huge gothic mansion that could use some TLC when his phone rang. With a sigh, he pulled into the gates, slowing to a stop. 'Hey Reid, yeah I got her. She's staying with me. Alright, see you tomorrow.' He sighed scrubbing his eyes. He hung up on Reid and looked at me. He was sending me so many emotions that it was hard to keep track of them all. Finally, I shut him out. Crossing my arms I shook my head at him.

'And I thought I was having a bad week.' He muttered. He started texting someone before he tossed his phone into my lap before putting the car into drive and drove us the rest of the way to his mansion.

'Are you sure I can stay?' I asked hesitantly. His mom, was an alcoholic and last week had to be extremelly rough for her. Not only had her son ascended, she had to be worried that he'd freak out and become addicted to his power. As if. Caleb didn't even drink or smoke or take drugs. He wasn't going to let his power control him.

'It's fine.'

'Your mom...' I trailed off.

'If you think I'm letting you out of my sight, you're dead wrong.' Caleb said pulling up in front of the house. Shutting off the engine, he got out of the car while I followed suit. Walking into his house, I saw only the hallway light on. We made our way to the wide staircase and Caleb went to check on his mom. His house had an air of neglect and could probably use a maid or two but I wasn't going to tell Caleb that. Without knowing how or why I began searching for his mom.

'Evelyn's already in bed. Sleeping.' I said looking up. Without second guessing me, he started to switch off the lights and we headed up the stairs. When we were younger we used to surf down the stairs on mattresses. Smiling at the memory, Caleb reached for my hand as he switched another light off when we got to the landing rendering us in darkness. I had to admit that I was tired, my feet were almost black and when we got to his bedroom, I quickly went to his bathroom and washed my bloody and dirt stained feet. When I emerged, I showed Caleb my newly healed feet.

'See? I should be scabbed and limping around, complaining about the pain but I'm already healed. Something is wrong with me.'

'We'll figure it out.' He promised.

'Or maybe you already know.' I muttered crawling into his bed.

'Jade, all I know is that you were adopted when you were three days old. You should ask your parents.' He said pulling his jeans off. Letting out a squeak I covered my eyes as he began hunting for pajama pants. Finding some he yanked them on and pulled his t-shirt off and climbed into bed.

'They won't tell me.' I said peeking at him through my fingers while he rolled his eyes at me.

'You don't know that.'

'They didn't trust me enough to tell me you're all different.' I muttered and he reached over to flick the light off. 'I had to figure that one out myself.'

'Does it matter?'

'The lies matter, but your weirdness I can handle.' I said rolling onto my side. Caleb covered me with his quilt. I don't know how I managed it but I drifted off to sleep. It was the best sleep I'd had in weeks.

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I was busy dreaming of being in a bed surrounded by ginger kittens when I heard someone talking softly.

'She's still out of it. I think she's sick.'

'Shh, you'll wake her.' Someone hissed from my right.

'Too late.' I mumbled as my dream disappeared.

'Oh no, Princess is gonna kill you.' Reid teased from my left.

'Call me Princess again and you'll be the first one I hurt.' I mumbled.

'Come on get up.' Reid teased, poking me before he flopped onto the bed.

'Don't you guys ever sleep?' I groaned.

'It's eleven o'clock.' Caleb pointed out as he dragged his quilt off of me.

That got me going. I sat up so fast everything went dizzy. Caleb placed a glass of juice and two toasted sandwiches onto the bedside table while I fought the sudden nausea.

'Ugh.' I groaned.

'So is it true? You were having a makeout session with Tim and your dear brother interrupted?' Reid asked with a wink. This is _exactly_ why I hadn't told him. He was always teasing me.

'Yeah, that's the sort of crap I'd expect from you.' I taunted and he raised an eyebrow.

'Moi? Follow you? Please.'

'We all searched for you.' Caleb said throwing Reid a look.

'Really, cause you were in bed when I called.' I reminded him.

'Yeah, well, I had a rough week.'

'So I'm guessing Ty reacted badly?' Reid asked poking me in the shoulder.

'Yeah, he said he'd break Tim's face if he ever went near me again. Oh no, I have to talk to Tim.' I moaned diving for Caleb's phone. He grabbed it with his lightning reflexes and shoved it into his pocket backing away with a grin.

'Noooo, please. I have to talk to him.' I begged using the puppy god trick that usually worked.

'Later. First, you're eating breakfast and then we're going out.' He said walking out.

Reid took half of my tomato and cheese toasted sandwich munching on it while I picked at the other half. Caleb walked out giving Reid a look I couldn't decipher.

Reid nudged me. 'You okay?'

'Not really. Ty overreacted and my guess is Tim is never going to hang out with me again.'

'I think I liked you better when you were oblivious to boys.' Reid sighed leaning back, eyeing me from the corner of his eye.

I held back a snort as I nibbled on my sandwich. 'As if any of them liked me.'

'Trust me, we've been chasing boys away from you since you were thirteen.'

I shook my head. 'Nope.'

'Yup.'

'You guys are jerks.'

'Love you too.' He said with a grin.

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Freshly dressed, we drove across town to get to Wayne's mansion that had the usual gothic style which looked impressive yet depressing at the same time. I knew the interior was way nicer so as soon as Caleb had stopped beside Pogue's new bike, I hopped out ignoring the look Caleb threw my way. I was drooling over the new bike, and hugged it, knowing it would piss Pogue off if he saw. The mahogany doors opened and Wayne and his posse, meaning my dad and Reid's dad Joe, walked out. Using my empathy, I searched for the women and found no one. Oh no. Was this an intervention or something? Darn it.

'Dad, I know what I want for Christmas now.' I said hugging the bike again ingoring Pogue's glare.

'Good grief.' He groaned in mock horror. Ignoring dad's dramatic act, I stepped up the stone steps that led to the stone porch that ran around the length of the house. Wayne was an inch taller than his son and had a slightly bigger frame but Pogue was the spitting image of him with the exception of his eyes. Wayne's eyes were a bright dark blue which were unnerving to look at whereas Pogue's were more of a green depending on the light.

Wayne shouldered his way past his friends and pulled me into a quick hug. Joe reached over and squeezed my shoulder gently. Thunder boomed from the north. Moments later, I was shuffled inside. Pogue and Tyler were sipping protein shakes in the living room when I appeared. Sinking down on the grey couch next to Pogue, I stared at the huge television. It was switched off so I knew we weren't here to watch the baseball game.

'Is this an intervention?' I asked folding my arms as everyone grabbed a seat on the eight seater couch. Reid sat next to me and his confusion mirrored my own. He held my gaze for a while before he broke off. Since when could I outstare him? Strange.

'Why do you say that?' Dad asked breaking into my thoughts. Blinking, I turned away hoping no one had noticed the staring competition but from the emotions I sensed, I knew they had.

'Oh well, you know the acting out, the running away, my sudden blunt savageness. I could keep going but I'd rather not be grounded until spring.' I replied sarcastically, cracking my neck. Snorting, Pogue placed his smoothie glass onto the table. 'Why are we all here?' He asked sounding bored, even though all I sensed from him was his curiosity.

'They're wondering what the fuck I am.' I replied coolly.

'Jade!' Dad exclaimed. I was going to pay for that. I hardly ever swore in front of him.

'What? It's true. Maybe you should tell me what the hell you are first. Oh wait, I had to figure that shit out all by myself.'

'That. That's what we've been dealing with.' Dad said pointing at me while Caleb and my other brothers nodded. I sighed shaking my head. Why was I feeling so explosive for? I didn't have PMS. I wasn't due for another week.

Caleb leant forwards in his seat looking me dead in the eye. 'Are you going to tell them or am I?'

'Tell us what?' Wayne asked narrowing his eyes.

Drawing in a breath, I let it out. 'I dreamt what Collins did to Caleb and Pogue. I dreamt about spiders attacking Kate. That's why I came home.' Ignoring their startled expressions, I looked down at my hands.

'Is this the only time you've had those dreams?' Wayne asked.

'Yes.'

'It could have been planted.'

'That's what I thought at first, but after last night...Jade's feet should be all cut up and look, they're healed.' Caleb pointed out, as I took off my shoes and showed them my bare feet. 'But that's not just it. Jade's an empath.'

Shock hung in the air but Pogue felt so doubtful I turned on him.

'Stop doubting me.' I snarled viciously and his eyes widened. The sudden urge to punch him had me clenching my fists.

Reid wrapped me in a strong bear hug and forced me into his lap.

'Why are you mad?' Wayne asked and I turned to him.

'I find it ironic your son doesn't believe I'm a freak like him.' I snarled struggling to get out of Reid's grip which was tightening on my chest making it hard to breath. Quite suddenly, I began to panic and threw myself against Reid's arms in an attempt to break free while my family watched on. I don't know why but I needed to get the hell away from him. _Run,_ a voice inside my head urged and in a last ditch effort, I leant forward throwing the last of my strength at his arms and surprisingly I managed to break out of his grip. I launched into the air, landing neatly in a crouch inches away from the coffee table. Slowly I stood up, my body was shaking. I had to struggle to keep myself from bolting for the door.

'Jade, I want you to turn around.' Dad said, his voice cool.

'Why?' I bit out gritting my teeth. When I finally craned my head around, I stared at Reid whose eyes were pitch black. I watched as they went back to normal. Everyone was staring at me in utter shock.

'No way, she can't be that strong.' Ty muttered in disbelief looking from me, to my dad and then back to me, his surprise and shock hitting me so hard I had no choice but to block him out.

'You didn't try to run until Reid used his powers. Why is that?'

Letting out a humorless laugh, I turned to Wayne. 'You're a borrower witch. Centuries ago your ancestors were given the power by a powerful demon. That's why your abilities are addictive. It's why your bodies wear down. You were never meant to have these powers, if you were you'd be true witches and true witches do not have a crazy amount of power like you lot do. Well, that's my theory anyway.' I replied with a shrug as the urge to run disappeared. Still, I felt angry and was having trouble calming myself down.

'Is that what you are?' Reid asked seeming unconcerned that I knew more than they did.

'I don't know what I am but whenever one of you uses your abilities, I feel this desire to run. It happened when you saved me from drowning two years ago. It happened last night with Ty, and now. Three's a pattern.'

'Jadey, you need to calm down.' Wayne said edging closer to me staring at my clenched fists. Looking down, I unclenched my hands and saw my nails had bitten into my skin. It wasn't until I saw the blood dripping onto the floor that I started to come to my senses.

I sank down where I stood and Tyler who I hadn't realized had moved sat behind me hugging me to him.

'What's happening to me?' I whispered as I watched my hands beginning to heal right before my eyes.

'I don't know but we'll find out.' He promised softly.


	4. Chapter 4

**Four**

Monday came too fast. It was a surprisingly warm day. I was wearing jean shorts and a green tank top with a light denim jacket over it. After a hurried breakfast of Fruit Loops, I went back upstairs to do the usual morning skincare routine. Last night, I'd treated myself to a new hairdye session and now my hair was dark blue. It melted with my regrowth making it look like an intentional ombre. I wasn't vain or anything but I couldn't help marvelling at it.

After cleaning my face, I applied a light hydrating BB cream mom insisted I use. Mom entered the bathroom just as I began searching for some setting powder. There was no way this stuff would stay on my face all day without getting oily.

'How are you feeling? Are you sure you're up to this?'

I dusted some powder onto my face and fought the urge to sneeze. 'I have to go to school.'

'You look good.'

'I always look good. I don't need makup to feel good about myself.'

'I know, baby girl but looking good makes others like you.'

I whipped around just as dad walked past the door. I had just rounded on my mom, my rage erupting, but with one pointed glare from dad, I backed off. It wouldn't do to lose it with her, even though her opinion was demented.

'I couldn't give a damn about what anyone thinks of me. If people only like me when I look like a sheep, I'm better of alone.' I muttered trying to keep my voice even. Turning away, I stalked back into my bedroom, snatched my leather backpack off the bed and marched out.

Dad was at the door waiting when I met him. Without a word, he opened it for me.

'How are you doing?'

'I'm pissed.'

'Why?'

I thought for a long moment. 'Mom said that if I wore makeup people would like me.'

'What?'

'Yeah, demented huh? Like I'm not good enough for her or anyone? How could she say that to me? How could she think like that?' I ranted while he listened patiently as he herded me towards his black sedan.

'Jade, I told her to say that.'

' _What_?'

He turned to me. 'You're going to a place where girls are catty to each other all day long. If you think no one will say anything to you to piss you off, you're wrong. Your mom said one comment and you almost decked her.'

'I know that. I was completely calm until she said that. I got up early to go for a run and meditate but you two had ruin my mood.' I growled as he opened his door while I stalked around the car muttering curses under my breath. He was right though. Someone would say something sooner or later. I looked at dad.

'We need a plan.'

'Indeed.'

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Lunch was going to be a nightmare. I waited in the line glancing at the people already sitting down at their tables. The jocks sat at their tables in their corner, probably the loudest of the bunch with their cheerleaders hanging off their arms. Everyone sitting seemed to be in a group. Hell even the nerds had someone to talk to at lunch. Nothing much had changed. Grabbing a tray from the stack, I loaded my plate with a slice of meatlovers pizza, fruit salad, a plain yogurt and carton of milk. After spying my old table, I ignored the enormous, skulking guy sitting at the end of my old table, his nose a book. I planted my tray and nudged the chair with my foot before I sat down. Startled, he looked up, his hazel eyes staring straight at me, annoyance hung in the air until he dropped his gaze and went back to reading. The dark brown specks in his eyes was the same shade of his dark chocolate hair, and for a moment I sat pondering about this new guy. I was just about to say hello when a shadow fell over me.

'Jade?' A girl asked. I turned and a girl with a dark green hair looking at me confused. Charlie, like me didn't really fit anywhere. She was adventurous with her hair and makeup and her clothes. People labelled her as a goth but while her brown eyes were lidded with green eye shadow and liner, her lips were painted silver. It matched her green and grey outfit. Her Slytherin backpack made me smirk. She definitely wasn't afraid to express her love for Harry Potter.

'I thought you went to boarding school.' Charlie said timidly, placing her tray down. She looked cautiously at me, waiting for me to snap at her to go sit somewhere else. I didn't and she sat down.

'I did. Ryders Acadmemy sucked so I hightailed it out of there and now I'm back.' I lifted my slice and took a bite. It was pretty good, a hundred times better than the food at the boarding school.

Cocking my head, I watched Charlie wondering if she was going to apologize for the crap that went down last year. I'd had all summer to get over it, but an apology would be nice.

'Wow. You left an elite school to come back here,' she replied in awe.

'You know me. I don't do stuck up people that well.' I replied taking another bite.

'I was hoping you came back because of me.' She said lowering her gaze to her food. Opening my carton of milk, I took a sip.

I snorted so loudly I drew the attention of a few students at the next table. 'You didn't seem to want to hang out with me all summer after Lilah told everyone I slept with Matt,' I replied shortly trying to maintain my cool as I felt her growing more and more defensive.

'He was hanging around you all the time.'

'We were partnered together to do a science project. I had to spend time with him because he was making half assed attempts and I wanted to get a higher grade.'

'You hung out with him at Nicky's. Everyone saw you.'

'I was hanging out with Tim, Jake and my brothers. It's not my fault QB1 decided to join us.' I snapped at her losing my patience.

'What was I supposed to think?'

Opposite us, the guy made a sound in the back of his throat, reminding us that he was there. Instead I turned on the girl who had been my friend last year before the BS ruined everything.

I leant closer to her glaring, amused at how she flinched away from my gaze. 'You were supposed to believe me. That's what friends do. FYI I haven't slept with anyone, ever. And for the record, only someone dumb would give it up to QB1 and last time I checked, I'm _not_ dumb.'

'Oh god.' The guy muttered. 'Shut up please.'

I turned to him my eyes narrowing. 'Who the hell are you?'

'That's Warren Fyre, he's a senior and he transfered from New Jersey.' Charlie replied automatically. Typical. She'd already done a search on the newbie. The guy called Warren looked up blinking at her. His irritation was evident but it was soon clouded by his worry. He was probably wondering what useful tidbits she knew. She probably knew what colour toothbrush or what brand of condoms he used. Ugh, why was I thinking about condoms for? Shaking my head to clear the images, I sighed loudly.

'How did you know that?' He asked in a deep baritone voice that had a few girls from the next table looking over. I had to admit his voice was kind of sexy and my annoyance at Charlie faded to nothing.

Huh.

She smirked at him for a few seconds and turned to me offering her hand. 'Bygones be bygones?'

'Sure.' I replied slowly, shaking her hand before I could change my mind. Charlie wasn't a bad person, she'd just believed a lie that had deeply hurt me. To think I'd sleep with her crush was pretty damn gross. Charlie finally began to eat and I returned to mine but my appetite was gone. I felt his stare and gazed at Warren who was peering at me over his book.

'Looking or buying?' I asked.

He cocked his head to the side flicking his eyes over me before returning his book. I peered at the cover. So he liked Sherlock Holmes. Good for him. I returned back to my food, prodding my fruit salad. Charlie broke the uneasy silence when she grabbed her tablet and she grabbed a note book.

'So Warren, seeing as you're here, and I work for the paper, why don't you give me the scoop on what it's like in New Jersey?'

'Quiet.' He said without looking up.

'The strapping senior, is currently a big reader of mystery crime novels. Sherlock Holmes is a smart choice...' Charlie trailed off as she wrote. Giving me a wicked grin, she nudged her chair back, grabbed her back and walked away.

'She's really not going to do an aritcle about me?' He asked shooting her a look at her disappearing back.

'Nah, she's just trying to get back at you for taking our table. Why aren't you sitting with the other guys for anyway?'

He just stared at me solemly. 'What makes you think they'd like me?'

'Well...I can't say anything about those guys, but the girls all seem to have made you their favourite eye candy.'

Warren shrugged lazily. ' Shiny new toy,' he muttered returning to his book. I mulled over what he said. There had been an edge of sadness to his voice.

I told myself I didn't care.

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'So, new guy, what's he like?' A girl asked.

'Quiet,' I replied pointedly, staring at the bug eyed girl who was leaning over her desk, showing me the tops of her perfecty rounded boobs that were giving the guy behind me an eyeful. He'd gone from calm to horny in three seconds and I was extremely glad I wasn't a telepath.

'Williams, eyes up front.' Our History teacher commanded. With a sigh, the dirty blonde haired girl winked at him and leant on her desk playing with her hair. Blocking out her lustful emotions, she still wanted that late tenties surfer dude, I closed my eyes and counted to five. Last period couldn't end soon enough. I'd been hounded by girls left right and centre who were already envisioning themselves in love with the new guy. I'd seen him twice in the halls, honestly it wasn't hard to miss him, since he had the body build of a Fullbacker. People had to move out of his way to let him pass. I reckoned the team would probably want him if he played. Somehow I didn't think he was a team player.

Finally the last bell rang. I silently cheered earning a few looks, gathered my stuff and bolted out of the door before the teacher could call me back. Just outside the door I ran into something solid and fell on my butt, hitting my head smartly on the floor. Sharp pain went through my head. I groaned as I sat up.

'Dude, you rebounded of that guy like a basketball.' One guy laughed, doubling over over. Sending him a death glare, I looked up and found myself staring into Warren's amused eyes. Without a word, He offered his hand which I grudgingly took. Pulling me up without any effort, he looked down at me for a long moment before walking off. Doors banged open and I flinched as I flattened myself against the wall to let the tide of students rush out. My phone buzzed in my pocket. Shaking my head to clear my sudden blurry sight, I grabbed out my phone. It was a group text.

 **Ty** : How was school?

 **Me** : I met my future husband. Can't wait to have his babies.

 **Pogue:** ...

 **Caleb:** ...

 **Reid:** ...

 **Ty:** I threw up in my mouth

 **Me:** Good

 **Pogue:** BBQ at mine. Bring your winning personality

 **Me:** Awwww someone has learnt how to spell big words, good 4 u.

 **Reid:** I think thats a no

 **Caleb:** Better get her out of there before she runs off with that guy

 **Me:** Too late...he has an ass to die for

 **Ty:** STFU. B there n 5

Shoving off through the crowd, I made it to my locker, grabbed my backpack, shoved my homework into my bag and locked my locker, turning, I almost ran into Charlie.

'Hey so are you free?' She asked and I shook my head. Pain erupted and I wish I hadn't.

'No, sorry, maybe tomorrow after school?' I suggested and she nodded with a small smile.

'Sure, see you tomorrow.' She said as we parted ways. I'd gotten down the steps when I spied Warren pulling on his leather jacket. I don't know what made him turn to look at me but when he did, his eyes softened, in this light they looked more golden-green than brown. It was weird. Snorting, I turned away and walked down the steps and walked as quickly as possible to Ty's Hummer which appeared. Jumping in the back, I sighed, closing my eyes.

Someone shaking me roused me some time later. I blinked rapidly. 'Hey kid.' Reid said grinning. The slight pain in my head had gone. I sat up but I still felt tired, but then I hadn't slept well last night.

'Need me to carry you?'

'Shove off.' I teased poking him roughly. Swinging my legs out of the doorway, I jumped, landed shakily and had to lean on Reid for support. Without a word he ducked, grabbed me under the butt and carried me around the car. Ty shot him a look but otherwise said nothing.

'I can walk.' I complained when he had reached the top the steps.

'Okay.' He said cheerfully, dumping me on the ground. Before I could punch him, Reid grabbed my hand and towed me around the porch leading me towards the outside entertaining area. Since it was pretty warm, I wasn't surprised to see Caleb and Pogue already in the pool tossing a ball back and forth while Wayne lazed around on the deck chair sipping on a beer. Ty and Reid pulled me into the house. Waving a hello to auntie Triss as she stood in the kitchen making herself a herbal tea.

'Hi boys, hello Jadey, I got something for you.' She said walking around to hug me. On a stool under the breakfast bar was a bag.

'Uh oh.' I had the feeling it was a bikini or something. There was no way I was wearing something like that in front of my brothers. Nor did I have any intention of going near the water. Anxiety slowly reared its ugly head and I was trying to behanve normally, while my heart beat picked up.

'Don't be like that.' She said reaching into the bag and took out the dark green fabric. It was a one piece bathing suit in the old fifties style. I hated to admit it, but it looked awesome and practically covered everything. Not that I was self conscious or anything but I didn't enjoy wearing bikinis or how guys noticed me. It made me self conscious knowing they were attracted to me only when I wore skimpy clothes.

When would someone like me for me?

'Go and try it on, and no you don't have to go in the water.' She promised hugging me.

'Okay.' I said in a small voice. Taking the bathing suit, I walked into the nearest bathroom and changed. Minutes later, I sighed at the small knock. I sensed someone being impatient and yanked the door open. I'd barely wrapped a towel around my body but I knew he'd seen everything. Ugh.

'Whoa.' Reid said raising an eyebrow.

'Shut it.' I said as I marched out. The fabric hugged me like a second skin and I bit my lip.

'Hey you look good.' He called after me.

'Not something I needed to hear from my brother.' I snapped folding my arms against my chest. Instead of replying, he took my hand and led me out.

'Well?' Triss asked. I flashed her and she smiled. 'And?'

'I love it. Thank you.' I said with a smile. Walking outside, I fell onto the nearest deck chair. Reid kept walking and I had a wonderful view of his backside. Closing my eyes, I grumbled to myself as I let the afternoon sun lull me to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Five**

I was finishing my journalism homework Friday night when my phone beeped. I Ignored it for a few minutes before I realised it was the group chat. Sighing, I tossed my pen down and grabbed my phone.

 **Pogue** : Nicky's?

 **Caleb** : Tim's asking for you

 **Pogue** : This is Kate, get your butt here. Don't let me be the only girl here!

 **Me** : I'm pretty sure blondie will turn up sooner or later. She sticks to Cay like icky sticky glue :(

 **Caleb** : Jade...

 **Reid** : Tim's asking for you. He looks so hopeful...:(

 **Ty** : I'm not picking you up. Don't even ask

 **Pogue** : Lighten up Ty, it was a joke!

 **Me** : And give all of you another reason to beat Tim up? No thanks, I'd rather do homework

 **Pogue** : I'm coming to get you

 **Me** : I'm going for a run. Good luck finding me!

Knowing Pogue and Kate, they would turn up and drag me out of the house. Dropping my phone onto the couch, I grabbed my running shoes and jacket, I looked out at the cloudy night hoping the rain would hold off.

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No such luck. I was jogging along the road feeling miserable as the rain pounded down on my head, when I heard a car coming from behind. Being a country town, I wasn't concerned until the car, sped past me, flicking water at me, skidded to a stop. I didn't know this car. It was inky black and old looking.

 _Run,_ a voice whispered in my head. I knew I was only a few minutes from home. I could disappear into the trees and hide if I needed to. When the passenger door opened and a tall man appeared, I didn't hesitate. I bolted for the safety of the trees.

'Jade!' The man called as he followed me. Jumping over a log, I landed and threw myself onto a track I used when I ran in the woods. I was extremely surprised to see that I could make out my surroundings better than I used to, even though it was pitch black in here. My legs stretched further when I heard and sensed someone following me. Gasping, I threw myself as fast as I could when I saw the lights from my treehouse. With mom and dad out on their weekly date, I knew I was home alone. By the time I got inside and messaged my brothers for help, that guy might already be here. And how the hell did he know my name? When something hit me, I caught the scent of wet dog before I crashed sideways into a tree. My teeth clacked together, I tasted blood while my side seared in sharp pain from the impact of the tree. Landing in a crouch, I saw a thick branch and swung wildly as I stood up. A gigantic grey wolf stood three feet away, five feet tall or maybe a little taller, blood dripping from its snout. It snarled, lowering its head to snarl at me. I was scared. There was nothing normal about this wolf. Instead of biting me, it was staring at me snarling. It's golden eyes piercing my soul.

A huge crashing nose made me shriek with fright, and I smacked the wolf on the nose and bolted. I was hit again and went flying into the clearing. Landing on my front, I flipped up and through the pain, I felt anger coursing through my body. Instead of one wolf attacking me, there were now two. A dark rich brown wolf with golden-brown eyes was snarling at the dark grey wolf. He was bigger than the one that attacked me. The brown wolf circled the silver wolf snarling dangerously making my skin crawl. They both began to circle each other, ignoring me completely. Scrambling to my feet, I bolted to the main house, bursting through the door, half running, half skidding, I got to the hidden room under the staircase. Punching in the code, I found the safe, and unlocked it. Grabbing the pump action shotgun, I grabbed heaps of shells, shoved most of them into my pockets before shoving four of them into the holes like dad had showed me how to do, and ran back outside. Jogging to the fighting wolves; there were three now, a snowy wolf had appeared and he was attacking the brown wolf's left flank while the other went for the shoulder.

Aiming the gun to the sky, I pumped it and pulled the trigger. The loud boom hurt my ears. The wolves cried out whimpering.

'ENOUGH. GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE.' I screamed like a crazy woman aiming the gun at the dark grey wolf. It snarled dangerously. I pumped the gun and pulled the trigger, shooting at its feet, luckily it got the hint. It ran with the snowy one following. The brown one just looked at me, cocking its head in confusion.

'GET OUT OF HERE!' I yelled, stepping closer. It backed up and I glared at it staring right into its dark golden eyes. I knew from a science project I

I'd done, wolves didn't stare at people in the eyes, but when I held this one's eyes, I saw its unease before it turned and trotted away. I stepped closer, aiming the gun right at its chest. I trailed after it until it was halfway into the trees. It stopped to look at me, his ears pricked, his confusion was mirroring mine. He half tuned slowly and for a second he looked like he was going to come towards me, but a wolf howled somewhere in the trees and he shook out his shaggy fur.

'Get out of here.' I growled at it. I was surprised when it nodded at me and bolted into the trees just as headlights came into view. I turned and saw Pogue on his motorcycle. Groaning, I looked down at the gun.

'This day keeps getting better and better.'

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Unfortunetly for me, Matt and his crew had planted themselves at the pool tables. I could see that Tim had said something because Jake kept shooting me looks. If Tim wanted to talk to me, he was going to have to brave my brothers' to do it. I knew the black eye under his right eye was a reminder to him and everyone else that I was off limits. I wanted to give Ty a black eye to match. But right now, I was too comfortable, sitting on Reid's lap stealing his fries, ignoring the dark looks Ty was sending our way. Sipping his Coke, Reid poked me playfully in the side before taking the glass from me.

'Who is _that_?' Kate asked looking towards the doorway, making Pogue narrow his eyes. I glanced, saw who she was looking cocking my head to the side.

'Well? He doesn't go to Spencer.' She said looking at me pointedly.

'That's Warren.' I didn't need to be an empath to see their curiosity flared.

'And?' Sarah pressed.

'He is none of your business. Any of you.' I snapped giving them all glares. 'Tim hasn't even texted me because of the black eye you gave him.' I said leaning over the table to glare at my brother who didn't look ashamed. Pogue kicked me under the table. I snarled at him.

'Jade.' Caleb warned. Reid tugged me back to his chest, wrapping his arms around me. I blew out a lungful of air trying to calm down.

'I'm fine.' I bit out after Caleb had struck up a conversation about their swimming times. I knew it was an attempt to keep things as normal for the girls as possible as they were still dealing with the witchy stuff. They didn't need to know about my drama too.

'Are you sure?' Reid muttered in my ear.

'Positive.' I whispered, unable to stop watching Warren, who caught my eye, stared for a few moments before slouching off to the bar.

'Jade...If you don't go say hi, I will.' Kate hinted, throwing me a wink as she tossed her long gloss hair over her shoulder.

'Kate.' Pogue growled, his irritation peaking.

'I'm looking out of my girl. I have to make sure he's good enough for her. Relax baby,' she whispered before turning to me with a roll of her eyes.

'What makes you think anything is happening?' I demanded.

'Jake told Reid what's been happening at school lately.' Kate replied dismissively, earning looks from all of my brothers.

'Wow. Going behind my back much? Did you do this crap to me last year too?'

'We have to look out for our little sister.' Pogue said with a mischievous grin.

I shook my head slowly. 'I'm disowning all of you.' With that, I got up and stalked off towards the bar.

'Hi.' I said sitting on the stool beside Warren.

'Hey.' He grunted glancing at me before turning back to his coke looking at it as if it was the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen.

'Whatcha doing here? It's a bit social for you right?' I asked, glancing at my brothers' who were staring at me. Flipping them the finger, I turned back around.

'You shouldn't keep your boyfriend waiting.'

'Ew, Reid? No he's my brother.' I said stealing his coke and taking a sip.

He turned, looked at the guys and turned to me. 'You don't look alike.'

'Not blood related. See, I have four big brothers. It's a pain because they keep trying to interfere with my life.' I said loudly, hoping they heard. Nicky grinned at me from over the bar and handed me a Sprite.

'So you're saying if I hurt you they'll kill me?' He asked casually, going back to sipping his drink, a smirk formed at the corner of his lips.

'Yeah, and Nicky too.' I replied lazily winking at the guy who winked back.

'Wanna go for a walk?'

'The last time I left with a guy, he got a black eye.' I muttered, hoping Nicky hadn't heard. He did, but rolled his eyes at me. Probably thought Tim had deserved it or something.

Warren snorted. 'I'll risk it.' He said pulling out his wallet. He paid and then shuffled off. I walked back to the table and grabbed my jacket.

'Where are you going?' Ty demanded.

'For a walk, be back in twenty.'

'I'll set the timer.'

'Just for that I'll make it thirty, actually, I'll make it forty. See ya.'

Ty groaned but Pogue kicked him under the table.

'Forty minutes and I'm coming after you. And I _will_ find you.' Caleb warned.

'I'll tell your mommy you're using.' I whispered to his stern face that paled slightly. We all knew stressing out his mom was a bad thing. Yet, we all knew who the dobber in this family was. I flaunted out like a boss.

Warren was waiting for me outside. He looked a little impatient as he sat on a motorbike. It could be a Harley but I had no idea. 'Sorry, my brothers are seriously overprotective.'

'It could be worse. At least they give a damn.' He pointed out, walking off towards the shops. His emotions were guarded but I could tell he wasn't annoyed anymore. Yet as soon as he mentioned my brothers' I sensed his unease. He dwelled on it for a while.

'So your brothers' are the opposite of mine?' I asked breaking into his thoughts.

'What makes you think I have brothers?' He asked shoving his hands down his pockets.

I shrugged lazily. 'Call it an educated guess.'

'Two older brother's. They moved up here and I came with but I'm sure Charlie already told you that.'

'Nope, she knows I don't do gossip and why come up here for?' I asked hoping I wasn't being too nosy.

He took a few moments to gather his thoughts. 'Our mom passed away and we needed a fresh start.'

'I'm sorry. What about your dad?' I asked.

Warren's eye went sad. 'He's dead too, at least we think he is. We don't know who is is.'

'If it helps, I think my biological parents were evil.' I replied lightly.

That stopped him short. 'Why do you think that?'

'I'm adopted and my records are sealed. Why else would they be sealed? I didn't even know I was adopted until last week. It's so new and I'm kind of pissed you know? I mean everyone knew about it and I had to figure it out by myself. Wow, sorry for the rant.' I rambled. _Good call, now he's really going to think I'm a freak_ , I thought to myself.

'It's okay. That's got to be pretty rough, but I think you're tough enough to handle it.'

'Thanks for your vote of confidence, you're about the only one that does though. Oh here's another bit of news. My brothers' have spies at the school telling them what I get up to. Where's the trust?'

'They're looking out for you.'

'Of course you would say that, you're a guy.'

'There's nothing wrong with wanting to protect those you love. It's a primal instinct.'

'Yeah, but I wish they'd back off a little though. They need to let me grow up. Instead all they do is piss me off.'

Warren laughed dully. 'Same.'

'Oh look, we have something in common.' I trilled as we neared the shops. I could smell the bitter coffee coming from the town diner.

He smirked and nodded towards a diner. 'Coffee?'

'I'm more of a hot chocolate kind of girl and this diner makes the best hot chocolate ever.' I trilled walking into the warm diner. We grabbed a booth and sat opposite each other. He looked at the menu. Letty, a sweet middle-aged woman walked over with a grin.

'What can I get for you?' She asked him.

'Coffee and a slice of apple pie, thanks.' He said while Letty turned to me.

'I'll have my usual and a slice of pie please.' I said and she smiled and patted my shoudler.

'I'm a regular and I always get the nightly specials.' I explained as Letty returned momentarily with our hot drinks. My phone buzzed and I sighed.

 **Kate:** Is he being nice? Asking for the group since I took their phones. You would not believe how they're all acting.

I laughed softly to myself. 'Thank god for Kate.'

'Who's Kate?'

'Pogue's girlfriend, I'll introduce you all later maybe.'

'If you want.' His tone told me he didn't care if he met them or not. Antisocial much?

 **Me:** Warren took me to the diner for food. I love him already. Jokes. PS. He has a motorcycle too. You can all start panicking now

 **Kate:** Oh no, you realise that you're just dating Pogue then? It's actually a thing. You should take psychology

 **Me:** Kate! I am not dating my brother! And this is not a date...sigh

I started laughing and couldn't stop. Warren looked at me quizzically until I showed him the messages. He shook his head with a small smile while I blew the air out of my cheeks trying to compose myself. Wow, it felt good to laugh.

Ten minutes later, Letty returned with our food. Tonight's special was Salmon steamed with lemon and thyme with roasted pumpkin and mashed potato. We dug in, talking occasionally but it wasn't until we sat back and finished our drinks that Warren leant back and looked at me. Actually, he was outright staring at me, but not in a creepy way. He was curious and I could tell he wasn't ashamed to admit it. I held his gaze for the longest time, until it began to irritate me and I leant forward hardening my gaze. He stared back for a few seconds before dropping his gaze.

'Huh.'

'What?' He asked carefully.

'I never used to be able to outstare anyone, now I can outstare my brothers' in seconds. You take longer though.'

He shrugged lazily and motioned for Letty. I stood up fishing out my wallet.

'Hey, I got it.' He offered while I shook my head.

'If this was a real date, I'd let you pay no worries.' I said handing Letty thirty dollars.

'Sweetie. This is too much.' She said staring at me while Warren handed her a twenty.

'Letty, you babysat me for years and I was a terror. Think of this as compenssation. Buy yourself something pretty.' I said kissing her cheek.

'You were never a terror. You are an angel.' She said pinching my chin. Pulling on my jacket I made a mental note to come in more often. Warren opened the door for me and let me out first. Once we were headed back to the bar, he slowed his stride so I could catch up. Honestly I felt a little sluggish since this was my second dinner after all.

'If I had asked you out on a date, would you have said yes?'

I was stumped and I gave myself a moment to think. 'I don't know. My friend Tim, the one that got punched admitted that he has feelings for me and I'm attracted to him, but I...this is all new to me. I don't date, ever. And you're nice, kinda, but I barely know you. I don't want to be in a love triangle like one of those sappy movies.'

'So we should stay friends until you figure everything out?' He was acting logical. I kind of hated it.

'What if I date Tim?'

Warren shrugged lazily. 'I'll deal with it. It's not like I'm in love with you. I was just asking.'

'Because you're attracted to me.' Searching his emotions, I sensed it. There was a tiny amount of attraction, why I hadn't seen it before was beyond me, but then I hadn't been looking for it.

'Yeah.' He admitted with a frown.

'I'm sixteen. You're not supposed to like younger girls, especially moody girls with anger issues.'

'Actually, scientifically, men are wired to like younger women because they are more likely to produce offspring.'

I pretended to gag. 'Oh you did not just spit that text book crap out at me.'

He grinned lazily. 'I did.'

'I just ate a second dinner plus dessert. You can't go talking about babies...' I trailed off. I was starting to feel a little hot despite the cold air.

Warren's grin faded. 'Are you okay? You look a little green.'

'I'm good.' I said breathing in the salty air. I was so used to it I barely noticed it anymore but right now it was doing nothing to stop the squirming food in my belly.

'Are you sure?'

'If you don't get me back to the bar in ten minutes, my brothers' are going to come after us. I'd rather you not get punched in the face like Tim.' I panted as I kept walking. Suddenly I felt an intense feeling of rage and jealousy that made me stumble.

'Are you about to be sick?'

'No, it's Tim.' I whispered as Tim appeared at the top of the hill. I was surprised that I could make out his features. But then hadn't I been able to see in the forest?

'You can see him?' Warren asked in surprise.

'You can't?'

'I can.' He said steering me to a park bench. I sank down biting my lip. 'Serves me right for eating two dinners and dessert.' I moaned giving him a feeble grin but my grin faded when I realised what he had said.

'Wait you can see him?' I asked as Tim grew clearer. Warren sat down next to me. 'He's so pissed.' I whispered as the rage and jealousy hit me. I closed my eyes forcing my walls up. When I looked up, I noticed Warren watching me curiously.

'What?' I snapped.

'Nothing.' He muttered, dropping his gaze.

Tim stopped when he got to the treet light. His eyes were blazing and I wasn't remotely prepared for what he was going to say. Instead he looked at Warren and stuck out his hand. Warren stood up towering over him.

'I'm Tim.'

'Warren,' he said politely, shaking his hand.

'What are you doing with my girl?' We both bristled at this but my glare made him step back. My nausea was completely forgotten as my anger spiked. I was standing up, and rounding on him in seconds.

'If you must know, Warren rescued me from Ty and we decided we were hungry so I showed him where he could find the best pie. And I'm _not_ your girl. Last time I checked, I didn't see you asking me out on a date or actually talking to me after Saturday night.' I snapped feeling angry. How dare he put some sort of claim on me?

'Is your brother going to punch Warren too?' I hated the way Tim said his name so I stood up and glared at him fiercely.

'Probably. And you know what? If you'd actually man up and tell him to fuck off maybe you'd actually stand half a chance.' I said reaching back, I grabbed Warren's jacket and yanked the fabric hard. Getting the message, Warren followed me. 'Now, if you don't mind I have to meet my brothers.'

'Can you believe him?' I hissed angrily once we were halfway up the slope. I was so close to losing it or my dinner.

'Something must have happened last Saturday night.' Warren muttered shooting me a look.

'He kissed me.'

Warren sighed. 'That'd do it.'

'I'm not someone who can be claimed.'

'No...you're not.' He agreed slowly.

'Why didn't you tell him to piss off?'

'You were handling it just fine by yourself.'

'Handling what?' Asked a voice. I shrieked as Pogue popped into view. I'd forgotten to put my walls down and I was so angry I hadn't bothered watching where I was going. Warren caught me and steadied me before letting me go. I walked right into Pogue's chest, wrapping my arms around his middle burying my head into his warm chest.

'What happened, Baby Girl?'

'Tim.' I mumbled into his chest. 'I don't feel well. I ate too much.' I mumbled. Seconds later, I was squawking as he ducked and scooped me up.

'I'm not a child.' I complained.

'You'll always be the baby.' He said kissing my cheek. He looked over at Warren who was watching us.

'Hey man, I'm Pogue.'

'Warren.'

'Be nice.' I warned as I burped loudly. Blushing, I apologized while Pogue laughed and rated my burp a five.

'I'm always nice.' He said as I burped again.

'Oh god.' I moaned while they laughed. 'I'm glad I amuse you.' I growled which only made Warren snigger to himself.


	6. Chapter 6

**Six**

Matt was leaning by my locker the next morning. Pretending he didn't exist, which was hard because his cologne smelt toxic, I opened my locker, grabbed my books from my backpack and shoved them into my locker.

'Hey babe,' He teased with a wink. If the foul smelling punk didn't back off, he was going to find out exactly what I could do...

'Hey, Jade.' Charlie said uncertainly, immediately forcing me to quell the violent thoughts that were egging me on, as she approached with Warren right behind her. I don't know how my new friend knew I was uncomfortable but he drew closer to me sizing up the quarterback, looking down at him like he was nothing.

'Sup man?' Matt asked with a smirk.

'Nothing.' Warren replied with a slight growl to his voice. Charlie looked between us both shooting me a look. Smirking, Matt edged away and slunk away, his annoyance radiating from him in waves.

'Coward.' I muttered unlenching my fists.

'Are you okay?' Warren asked looking down at me, his eyes softening.

'Yeah, thanks to you.' I said feeling thankful. He studied me a for a few minutes and walked off.

'You know, I think Warren is keeping Matt and the others away from us. You gotta admit, he's got the whole bad boy vibe about him but I think deep down he's really sweet...' She trailed off thoughtfully. I could hear the cogs ticking away in her brain.

'I had the same thought. There's just something about him...' I trailed off.

Charlie grinned tugging on my hair. 'You like him.'

'It's way too early to admit that.' I said with a lazy shrug.

Charlie snorted. 'What about Tim?'

'He hasn't manned up and messaged me since Ty punched him.'

'Yeah, I wouldn't want to mess with the Sons of Ipswich either.' She sighed dreamily and I swallowed the urge to growl at her. My brothers' weren't _that_ special.

'What are we talking about? Boys? Makeup trends? How Draco is hotter than Harry?' Jake teased as he stopped by my left side and leant on the locker.

'Matt was here trying to harrass me with his bad smelling cologne.'

Jake snorted, cracked his neck and knuckles making Charlie wince. 'Give me the word and I'll sort him out for you.' He winked.

'What is it about bikers liking to beat up on people?' Charlie butted in.

'Take a ride on the wild side and you'll see.'

'Yeah, I'll pass. I'd like to live.' She retorted before turning to me. 'See you in history.' Turning, she walked away.

'One of these days...' He trailed off watching her with amusement.

'Yeah, and one these days, you'll realize teasing Charlie isn't going to make her warm up to you. How is she supposed to know you actually care about her? You're being mean to her because you can't handle your own insecurity which is stupid.'

'You have no idea what you're talking about.' He said with a frown.

'I'm calling you on your BS. I know how you feel about her. I've known for ages. Man up and stop irritating her or I'll tell her why you're being a jerk to her.' I warned, slamming my locker.

'You wouldn't.'

'You've been spying on me for my brothers. I wouldn't be so cocky if i were you.'

'Jade, they were worried about you. Ever since the incident with Matt...' He trailed off with a loud sigh.

'Yeah, I get it. But whatever happens here is something they cannot control. I have to deal with any problems that appear on my own.'

'Point taken. I'll see you at lunch.' He said swooping down to kiss my cheek before he bolted away.

'Boys.' I muttered.

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Charlie was sitting down with her tray eating slowly, ignoring the balls of paper the cheerleaders were throwing at her.

'Juvenile.' I muttered staring at the shiny haired girls' who wore faces full of makeup. Why couldn't the popular girls be nice? It wouldn't kill them. Scooping up the balls, I walked to Lilah's table.

'These belong to you.' I said dropping them onto the table. I leant close to her face and stared her down. It took her only a matter of seconds to drop her gaze.

'I don't think so.' Lilah lied stiffly. She had a few good inches on me, and her dark brown eyes glinted maliciously at me for a few seconds before she ducked her head. I knew I was her main target since she tried and failed to get with Ty, a few summers ago.

'I saw you throwing them at Charlie. Cut the crap. If you harass us again or send Matt to do your dirty work, bad things will happen.' I whispered mockingly. Turning, I took two steps when I felt a ball of paper hit my head. Whirling around so fast, I grabbed her by the throat, dragged her from her seat and slammed her against the wall. Shrieks of surprise, fear, and anger lit up the room.

'Jade!' It was Warren's harsh voice that made me look around though. His face, usually so calm was pale with shock. A choking sound made me smirk as I looked around glaring at Lilah. She'd paled and dropped her gaze, tugging at my hand. I tightened my grip.

'Stay away from us, or else.' I whispered. Letting go of her, I spun and walked through the crowd oblivious to everyone. Warren met me halfway and grabbed my arm. I didn't fight him as he pulled me through the cafeteria doors, scanned the halls before walking to the door of the nearest classroom. Leaning on the doorknob, it broke under his touch. He shoved the door open and pulled me inside.

'No one can break a door handle.'

'I can.' He growled at me, glaring at me while I looked at the door. 'I'll only drag you back.' He shot at me guessing my thoughts.

'Wonderful. Are you going to explain why you're so pissed at me?' I asked turning to face him. The disappointed look he gave me made me feel small.

'What makes you think I'm pissed at you?'

'I can feel it.' I spat at him feeling irritated. He frowned and shook his head as he mulled it over.

'Why did you snap?'

'She was upsetting Charlie.'

'Try again.' He said in a flat tone.

'I don't know what you want me to say. Lilah was going to start the bullying crap again and it pissed me off. It's not needed. Just because we're not in their group doesn't mean we can be treated like dirt. I don't treat other people like crap. Okay, Lilah was an exception but she had to be dealt with seeing as words did nothing to deter her.'

'So you view yourself as a protector.'

'I don't know. Maybe. Why does it even matter?'

Grabbing out my phone, I scrolled through the list ignoring Warren's blazing eyes.

 **Me:** Plz dont be mad but I just shoved Lilah Chambers up against the wall

 **Dad:** What did she do to deserve that?

 **Me:** She was throwing paper balls at Charlie and denied it. I knew it was only going to be a matter of time before she started harrassing us again

 **Dad:** Am I needed?

 **Me:** I'll let you know. You know our principal does sweet FA when it comes to bullying. But I just attacked the head cheerleader so yeah, I'll probably be kicked out. Do you think Spencer will take me?

 **Dad:** I'll be there in fifteen minutes

'What?' Warren asked.

'My dad's coming to the school.'

'Why did you tell him for?'

'We had a plan in case I lost it.' I said with a shrug. I'd hoped it wouldn't happen this soon but it had. I could see a grounding in my future.

It took me thirty minutes of meditation to gain a little control over my anger. The warning bell went off and Warren and I left the room, ignoring the knowing smirk a few of the older students gave him. Great, so now I was going to have to deal with the rumors that I was sleeping with a senior. Wonderful.

'Miss Simms, a word if you please.' The guidance counsellor May Riser, a tall fiery redheaded woman in her early thirtees appeared from the staircase. She led me to the counsellor office and shut the door once I was inside.

'How are you doing Jade? I've been meaning to talk to you all week.' She said making herself a cup of herbal tea.

'I was fine until thirty minutes ago.' I muttered.

'Did something happen at Ryder's Academy?'

'Sure, I was surrounded by stuck up girls, and then Pogue was in an accident and I came home.'

'That's it?' She pressed.

'Matt and Lilah are starting up with their harrassment stuff today and I lost my cool for a minute. That's what you want to talk about right?'

'I heard you slammed Lilah up against a wall and choked her.'

'If I choked her, she wouldn't be alive to complain about it.'

'Jade, that's not what I was expecting to hear.' Riser said in alarm.

'I'm done being a victim. It's not in my nature. Someone has a beef with me or my family, that's fine. I'll beat them down.'

'Is that your game play? Being violent?'

A knock made me look at the door. 'Worked for me today,' I muttered.

'Come in.' She called as the door opened. Dad walked in and sat in the seat next to me.

'I didn't realize you had been called Mr Simms.' Ew, she was pretending to be stern while trying to hide the fact that she was attracted to my dad. Horror filled me as I blocked her out.

'Jade texted me.' He said giving me a cool nod.

'I see. Jade here had just told me she'll fight anyone who has a beef with her.'

'Did you?' He asked looking at me through narrowed eyes.

'I'm not a victim. I won't behave like one. They spread rumours about me sleeping with half of the football team last year. Am I supposed to take their crap when they attack my friend too? Lilah started this crap in revenge just because she found out that Charlie had a small crush on her boyfriend. Nothing would have happened, Charlie's not like that, but Lilah being the bitch she is, she had to get revenge. Which she did, using me, seeing as Ty, my brother, refused to date her a few summers ago. So yeah, all this bullshit is because of her insecurities. She's the one that needs intense therapy, not me.'

Snorting, dad got up, offering me his hand. I took it.

'I'm not done.' Ms Riser told me.

Dad just shrugged. 'My daughter defended herself. Was she a bit rash? Yes, and that's something we'll work on but if this girl Lilah doesn't stop harrassing my daughter, I may have to get my lawyers involved.'

'I don't think that will be necessary.' May stammered. Shrugging, dad took my hand and led me out of the room.

'Thanks. Am I grounded?' I whispered.

'No, but next time you will be.' He warned as we walked towards the carpark. Stopping at my locker, I grabbed my backpack. On second thought, I grabbed my homework too.


	7. Chapter 7

**Seven**

It was an unsually warm Saturday afternoon and my brothers along with their their girlfriends were in the middle of the pool messing around while I sat on the step staring at the ankle deep water, trying to summon up the courage to join them.

Charlie, arrived with her green hair tied up in two buns on the top of her head. Dropping her bag onto the deckchair, she pulled her green plaid shirt off and shimmied out of her black denim shorts.

'Hey, you okay?' She asked sitting beside me. She'd been there when I had drowned and understood my phobia even better than I did. Just sitting on the pool steps with my feet in the water was an accomplishment. I hadn't fainted, yet.

'I made it this far.' I mumbled, chomping down on my lower lip.

'You're doing great.' She said nudging me a little. Reid walked over, the droplets of water running down his pale, toned body hitting the sun making him sparkle like a glittering fairy. Beside me, Charlie let out a happy sigh.

'Down girl.' I muttered.

'Why? You gonna claim him?' She winked.

I barked out a laugh. 'Yeah that would go down with everyone.'

'Who cares what anyone else thinks? You usually don't.'

'Very true, but this is my brother we're talking about.' I whispered as I saw her peek a glance at Reid again, which to my horror, he noticed. His lazy wink made me want to throttle him.

'Are you going to face your fear today and join us?' He asked me.

'I'm attempting it.' I replied looking at Caleb. He waved at me.

Surprisingly, Reid offered Charlie his hand. After a moment of hesitation, she looked at me.

'Nope, I'm staying with my girl.'

'Not up for negotiation.' He said swooping down on her and scooping her up. Screaming in shock and then annoyance, he carried her down the stairs and into deeper water before dumping her into the water. Spluttering, Charlie emerged hurling abuse at him as she stalked through the water glaring at him heatedly.

'I take it back. Garwin's a jerk.'

'My brother was trying to get me to forget my fear and come to protect you.' I explained, leaning back on my hands tilting my face to the sun. Reid sent me a wave of annoyance. Blocking him out, I smiled. It was just like him to try to trick me into doing something I really didn't want to do. I wasn't mad, he was only trying to help me after all.

'Too bad it didn't work.' She grumbled to herself.

I shrugged lazily. If he tried it again, I might have to jump him, but before I could plan out an attack, the sliding door opened and aunt Triss walked out with a platter of sandwiches. Letting out a shrill whistle that hurt my ears, she headed back inside, emerging moments later with cups and a jug of apple juice.

Getting up, I waited until Reid had dragged himself out of the deep end of the pool which was almost three metres deep, and then shoved him hard in the chest. I didn't count on his fast reflexes grabbing me and pulling me into the pool with him. The second I hit the water, the images of the rip sucking me down, down, down, entered my mind and all of my swimming ability went flying out of the window. I opened my eyes finding myself near the bottom. Panic set in as I fought my way to the surface. I saw blurry images waiting by the side of the pool, watching me panic. Suddenly a splash alerted me and I whirled around just as Pogue grabbed me around the middle. Dragging me to the surface, I hugged his neck trying to remember how to breathe. After a few moments, we hit the side of the pool. Caleb's arms replaced Pogues, and he dragged me out. Charlie threw herself at me, hugging me tightly.

'I-I'm okay.' I stammered rubbing my eyes. The last time I'd been pushed into a pool, I'd been at Jake's house. I'd been a blubbering mess for hours. Right now, all I was dealing with was anxiety and shock. I tried to get a grip on myself.

'Reid's not. Tyler broke his nose.' She whispered, clinging to me. When I had managed to get my shaking limbs under some control, I stood up. Caleb tossed me my beach towel, while I searched for Reid who was nowhere to be seen. Throwing out my senses, I sensed him walking away from the house. A sudden urge to run entered my body. He must be using his powers to fix his nose. It was irritating to see everyone consoling me after I had screwed up, again. I could have swam to the bottom and pushed up, but no, I'd panicked, again.

Reid appeared wiping blood off his face. Shooting him a murderous glare, Charlie hovered over me until I nudged her with my elbow. With a sigh we walked to the table and sat down. Sitting on my other side, Kate shot Reid an angry look, but othewise said nothing.

I grabbed half a cheese and chicken sandwich eating it slowly as my phone rang. It was an unknown number but I answered anyway.

'Hello? Lilah bashing service.' I trilled earning looks of disapproval from Charlie and Caleb.

'Hey,' Warren said in that sexy voice of his.

I gulped. 'Hey yourself.'

'Are you doing anything later?'

'That depends on whether I get revenge on my brother for scaring the life out of me.'

'What did he do?' The concern in his voice was pretty darn cute.

'Reid, the blonde one every girl drools over, pulled me into the pool after I shoved him.' I said flashing Reid a grin as he sat down. Warren chuckled to himself.

'Fair's, fair.'

'I suppose.' I replied chewing on the crust while cocking my head to the side. 'So what did you have in mind for later?'

'Dinner at the diner?'

'Sounds like fun.'

'Is seven okay?'

'Sure. See you there.'

'Why don't I pick you up?'

'Nope, I'll meet you there. I gotta go. See ya.' I said quickly hanging up before I could change my mind.

'Tell me, Warren asked you out.' Charlie trilled looking as if she was about to do a touchdown dance.

'No way,' Kate gushed, 'our little girl is going on her first date.' She whispered loudly to Pogue who continued eating, rolling his eyes at me.

A sudden thought occured to me. 'Hey how did he get my number?' I turned to Charlie, mockingly narrowing my eyes at her. 'Ooooh someone's busted.'

'Well, I had to give it to him! It's obvious he liiiikes you.' She trilled in a sing-song voice.

'Warren's also headed for college next year. There's no point in liking older guys now.' I pointed out with a groan. I covered my head with my arms. Why had I said yes for?

'Oh please, he's not going to college. The military is more his thing.' She replied with a wink.

'So, what have you found out about him?' Kate asked with a smile.

Charlie ducked her head. 'I know he could easily be a straight A student if he wanted to.'

'I bet there's more jucier stuff you could tell us.' Kate pressed.

'I only use my powers for good.' Charlie replied turning back to me. Her guilt was like a billboard sign but I wasn't going to out her. Charlie had probably been sitting with all this info for days and even though I wasn't too happy with what she had done, I let it go.

'What are you going to wear?' Kate butted in.

I shrugged knowing where this was headed. I threw Pogue a look but he was too interested in his lunch to notice. 'Clothes. It's not like it's a real date or anything.'

'It doesn't matter, we're going shopping.'

'Hell to the no. I ain't dressing up for some punk.'

Caleb grinned. 'That's our girl.'

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'There, you are done.' Charlie grinned, turning me around so I could look at myself in the mirror. Not much had changed. My hair had been left to air dry after we had redyed it, which resulted in natural waves. My face was covered in BB cream with a tiny amount of blush. My lips were glossy and tasted like raspberries and my eyes had a nude eyeshadow and a hint of blue eyeliner on the lower lid, making my green-grey eyes pop. The only thing different was I was wearing my newest skinny jeans, a blue tank top and my old black denim jacket I had forgotten I still had. Sitting down on the bed, I tugged my combat boots on.

'You did great.'

'Wait till the boys see you at Nicky's. They're going to die.'

I couldn't keep a groan inside. 'Do I have to go?'

'Yes. I'll be there. Tim asked me to hang out.'

'Uh-huh.'

'Does that bother you? I won't go if it does.' She said chewing on her lower lip.

'Not at all. I'll save you from him later.' I promised hugging her. A car horn beeped. Charlie grabbed her stuff, gave me one last look and darted out of my room.

I turned to stare at the mirror and was still staring when my dad found me. He leant on the door assessing me. He'd been concerned ever since he brought us cookies and caught Charlie trying to convince me to wear a mini-skirt.

'You look nice.'

'You're supposed to tell me this is stupid and I shouldn't hang out with guys until I figure out what the heck is wrong with me.'

'I could, but we both know you'd sneak out anyway.' He said with a pointed look.

'Not necessarily...usually it's the boys that make me sneak out. Maybe you should ban me from seeing them.' I suggested grabbing my wallet. Shoving it in the back of my jeans, I turned around. 'Okay...I can do this. I can be normal and...' I trailed off as he walked away chuckling to himself. 'Not helping, _daddy_.' I grumbled while he pulled his keys out of his pocket.

Mom appeared at the door and hugged me gently. 'There's my girl. Knock him dead.' She said kissing my cheek.

Grinning weakly, I let dad bustle me to the car.

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Warren was sitting in the corner booth when I arrived. He looked relaxed, and was wearing his usual dark jeans and grey t-shirt.

'Hey,' I said as I sat down, 'how was your day?'

'It was good. I fixed my bike, and helped out at my brother's garage.'

'Wait they're the new owners of Ipswich Motor's?'

'Yeah, they're thinking of changing the name.'

'It is kind of lame but eh.'

He grinned. 'So how was your swim?'

'It was fine.' I replied biting my lip. Letty arrived and took our orders. The door opened and Damon sighed. I turned, noticing Matt and his usual posse walk in.

'We don't have to stay.' He offered while I shook my head.

'Just be ready for the rumors.' I replied while he lazily shrugged with a roll of his eyes.

I sensed a wave of amusement, worry, and jealousy. I turned to see Lilah and the others staring at me. Grabbing a knife I twirled it around my fingers smirking darkly. I didn't even notice what I was doing at first.

Warren snorted drawing my attention back to him and I dropped the knife blinking rapidly. 'How did you know she and the others were watching you?'

'I sensed it.'

'But how?'

'I-I just did. Everyone has protective instincts.'

'Yours seem higher than usual.'

God damn it. Who was this guy? 'Maybe I'm a psychopath. Ever think of that?'

Shaking his head, Warren looked at me seriously. 'I'd know if you were one, trust me.'

I cocked my head to the side as suspicion gnawed at me. 'How am I supposed to trust a guy who thinks I'm a freak?'

'I never called you a freak, I just observed how sensitive and protective you are about the people you care about.'

'Oh, right.' I said with a shrug.

He frowned at me. 'Do you think you're a freak?'

'Sometimes, but doesn't everyone? Isn't that normal?' I countered wondering why we were still on this subject.

'I guess. Personally, I've never felt like that.'

'Let me guess, you go with the flow. By Monday the whole school is going to believe we're dating or sleeping with each other. You know students saw us walking out of that classroom. I wonder how you'll react then.' I taunted.

'I couldn't give a fuck what anyone thinks.' Warren replied smoothly.

I had to admit I was shocked at his revelation. Generally when someone said that, they were lying but with him, it was nothing but the blatant truth. He didn't care. Not one bit.

'Wow, you actually believe that.'

He smirked. 'Did you sense that?'

'Sure,' I replied with a shrug. Letty arrived with our food. I'd gotten the marinara pasta and garlic bread to share, while he'd ordered steak and a mountain of fries.

We were almost done with our dessert when I heard the trill of Lilah's laugh. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I knew it was about me.

'Oh moon goddess, give me strength.' I muttered under my breath.

'Don't get us kicked out of here. I'd like to come back.' Warren warned with a grin.

'Don't worry.' I promised, waving Letty over. I started to pay, but Warren handed Letty fifty dollars.

'Keep the change.' He said pulling me from the booth. 'So where to now?'

I made a face. 'My brother's are at Nicky's and they're expecting us.'

'Us?' He echoed as we walked out into the chilly air. He pulled on his black worn jacket and walked off. I hurried to catch up.

'Yes, us. If you don't show up, they'll think whatever this is went badly. They'd all feel obligated to hunt you down.'

'Whatever this is?' He echoed.

'Everyone thinks its a date. I told them it was just dinner but...' I trailed off while he threw me a satisfied smirk. I poked him on the arm. 'It's not funny.'

'You're really cute when you're flustered. And it was a date remember? I paid.'

'Oh dear moon goddess. You _did_ pay. Wait, does this mean we're dating now?' I asked feeling confused. Did I even want to date someone when I was going through this aggressive stage? Warren was too damn observant, and I wouldn't be able to lie to him forever. I started to debate the pros on cons.

Warren's smile made me lose my train of thought. 'It's up to you.'

'Why is it up to me, and why is this so freaking funny?' I demanded instantly irritated as he walked off, his humor coming off him in waves. His emotions shut off as he turned to face me.

'You have to want this too.'

I stared at his serious face for a long moment and took his warm hand in my own and forced him to start walking again. 'Come on, if we're late my brothers will track us down.'

Reid and Ty were playing pool when we walked in. Dragging Warren through the crowd, I was forced to shut everyone out because the people who were attracted to Warren irritating me. Charlie saw me first. She'd been standing next to Tim talking to him while Jake looked like he'd given up trying to talk to her, but now she waved and as we joined the edge of the group, she grabbed my hand. 'Hey.' She said breathlessly, her eyes were annoyed and showed her confusion. 'I need to talk to you right now.'

I tuned to Warrren, who was already talking to Jake.

'Be right back.' I said pointing to the bathroom. He nodded and turned back to Jake who was saying something. Once we were in the bathroom, Charlie let out an agitated sigh.

'Tim asked me to come out and hang but he's been ignoring me. I think he's still hung up on you.' She pouted casting her eyes downward.

'Or he texted you because Jake couldn't be man enough to ask you himself.' I replied catching on.

'Jake?' She echoed.

'Oh come on Charlie. He teases you to get your attention. It's obvious he likes you.'

'Ew, I can't freaking believe this.' She spat angrily.

'Jake's not that bad. He's gorgeous.'

'I don't care if he's cute or not. Why can't he just man up and ask me out for himself? I'm not going to do it for him.' With that she stalked out.

'Oh boy, what have I started?'

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Two hours later, Charlie bid us farewell. She was going home to play an online zombie game with her troop, and after she had tried numerous times to have an adult conversation with Jake, who had kept up his act of relentlessly teasing her, she threw in the towel. Even Warren was giving him confused looks as I walked her to the door.

'What a dumb jerk.' Charlie growled while I nodded in agreement. As soon as she was gone, I was going to put the biker into a headlock and give him a noogie.

Outside in the air, we stood against the wall waiting for Charlie's dad.

'Oh hey, sweet things, need a ride?' Two older guys asked as they shut the door and headed over to us.

'Thanks but we're good.' Charlie replied without really looking at them.

'Are you sure? Two sweet things like you shouldn't be outside like this after dark.' The way the taller one tracked his eyes up and down over my body made my skin crawl. Letting my defenses down, what I sensed from him made me nauseas. The other guy was checking out Charlie. Instantly my anger flared. Something inside me was blazing, turning into white hot rage. I could barely contain it as I tried to focus.

'We're fine, but thanks.' I managed keeping my voice light while Charlie looked at me from the corner of her eye. Luckily for us, Charlie's dad arrived. Beeping his horn, he glared at the older men while Charlie sent me a worried look.

'See you.' I said giving her a quick hug. Seconds later she was leaving me jogging to the car. I waited until she was gone before I turned to head inside. Fingers closed over mine keeping the door shut. I didn't think. Ramming my elbow up, I felt a crunch and a grunt.

'Grab the bitch.' Someone snarled.

'No!' I screamed shrilly, as I turned backhanding the other guy in the face. I went to wrench the door open but was grabbed from behind again. My fury erupted. I let out a scream of rage, whirled around and shoved them as hard as I could, sending the creeps flying through the air. They landed five feet away on the ground.

'Hey!' Someone yelled. I heard two feet running for me from the trees. Without thinking, I took a running leap over the men, sprawled on the ground landing ten feet away, turned, letting out a snarl. Two men that resembled Warren entered my vision. My eyes tracked their every movement, while I watched the men that had attacked me.

'Jade, you need to calm down.' The oldest man said quietly as he stopped eight feet away from me.

'How do you know who I am?' I bit out angling my body towards his while keeping my attackers in sight.

'Oh shit.' The other guy muttered. 'She's going to phase.'

'No she isn't. Jade calm down.' The older guy ordered.

The doors opened. I felt an immense wave of worry. Cocking my head, Warren strode out of the door. Behind him were my brothers.

Ty kicked one of the men in the head as he stalked past. I watched as my brothers grabbed the men and dragged them away. I snarled. They were mine. I stepped forward. Ty went to move towards me.

Warren grabbed my brother's arm. 'Wait. You need to let Jade calm down first .'

'Get off me.' Ty snapped shoving him back. I couldn't contain the snarl as my brother forced Warren back. Ty's body froze but his head swivelled in my direction.

'Jade?' Ty asked dropping his hands. He stepped back and I straightened my back slightly, the realization hitting me a split second later. I had barely stopped myself from attacking Ty. Movement made me narrow my eyes as I saw one of the men punch Caleb in the stomach. Taking a running leap, I landed right behind the man, shoved Caleb aside, and side-kicked the man into the brick wall.

Strong arms were suddenly around my chest. I struggled uselessly against whoever held me. I kicked out viciously. Caleb groaned but didn't loosen his hold.

'Calm down kiddo.' He urged as someone wrapped their forearm around my neck. I was instantly choking and fought harder beginning to panic. Caleb used his power. I threw myself against him thinking I'd be able to break out like I had done with Reid. Only nothing happened, and I couldn't breathe. Gasping, I let out one last feeble effort before everything went black.


	8. Chapter 8

**Eight**

Images flashed through my mind. I saw the men attack me and as I remembered everything, horror filled me. Gasping, I jerked myself awake.

'Oh no, what did I do?' I whispered in horror. Throwing the quilt aside, I hurried out of my bedroom-for some reason I was in my treehouse-and stumbled into the living room. I wasn't quite sure what to say when I saw my brothers watching a movie. Lying on the rug in front of the fire place was a big, brown shaggy wolf. When it turned its golden-brown eyes on me, I let out a blood curdling shriek, fell through my doorway and kicked my door shut.

'That went well.' Ty muttered as he knocked on my door.

'Jadey, I'm coming in.'

'Who let that thing in here?' I demanded, opening the door a crack. The wolf was still there, looking at me but whenever I looked him in the eyes, he averted his gaze.

'You know him? He was sitting on the doorstep when we got here.' Reid called from the couch.

Images whizzed past my brain and my fear spiked. 'Where's Warren and his brothers? They saw what I did. I've exposed myself...I have to get out of here.' I whispered. Already, I was planning a quick getaway.

Ty grabbed my arms, pulling me into a tight hug. 'Yes, they did and they weren't shocked. Jade, you're not going anywhere.'

'I kicked a guy into a brick wall like it was nothing. Warren's never going to want to talk to me again. He's going to tell everyone I'm a freak. I have to leave.'

The wolf got up. I whimpered as it slipped into the room eyeing Ty for a moment. After I had calmed down somewhat, he let me go and Ty sighed and walked out. The wolf nosed the door shut leaving me alone with him. I backed away, until my back hit the bed. The wolf walked to the middle of the room and stood up on his hind legs. His golden eyes dimmed, I held my breath as hair, fangs and nails retracted and the body began to change changing from fur to a human skin. Finally, I was staring at Warren, who was completely naked.

'Shut the front door.' I gasped as my legs gave out on me and I fell backwards onto the bed, staring at the very naked guy who had been a wolf just seconds ago.

'Jade?' He asked walking closer to me. Despite the shock, I couldn't stop myself from gawking at him. Heat flushed my cheeks as my eyes moved over his chest. I looked away. This wasn't happening to me. I wasn't seeing the guy I was dating turn from a wolf to a human.

'You're a-a wolf. Your brothers are wolves too.' I blurted out, suddenly remembering the two other wolves that had attacked me. Okay, as long as I thought about something other than his naked hot bod-oh who was I kidding? Not only did he have a killer personality, he looked great. My cheeks flushed red and I buried my face into my knees.

'Yeah.' He said softly.

'Where are your clothes?'

'Shredded. Ty already gave me a pair of jeans to borrow but I wanted you to see who I really am.'

'So my brothers know?' I squeaked out.

He chuckled humorously. 'Now they do.'

I swallowed hard. 'How did that happen?'

'When my brother put you in a choke hold, I started to lose it so I headed to the forest to phase. You should have seen the look on your brothers faces when they got here. I er had to show them who I was.'

Unable to help it, I smiled a little bit. 'I bet they shit themselves.' I mumbled to myself. He moved closer to me and knelt down. I bit my lip and refused to meet his eyes.

'Don't be scared Jade. I could never hurt you.'

Finally, I looked up at him. 'Your brother's already attacked me, but you protected me, right?' I asked hopefully. I sounded like a sappy teenager.

'They didn't know you hadn't phased yet, they caught your scent while driving and unfortunately for you, you just happened to be an unmated female wolf and on heat.'

'I'm sorry?' Did he just call me a wolf? It was crazy and kind of made sense but I wasn't going to believe it just yet.

'Ovulating.'

That's not what I had meant but I couldn't summon up the courage to say so. 'Oh. So they decided to...' I couldn't speak the words but the horror filling my eyes made him flinch.

'It's not like that. They couldn't figure out why you didn't phase and set them straight. They thought you wanted to be chased.'

'But...I-I can't be a wolf.' I whispered.

'Jade, you're not just any wolf, you're an alpha. You didn't have to shoot at us to force us to obey. It just told us that you hadn't phased before. No wolf would have let the three of us near your home unchallenged.'

I shook my head. 'This is insane. It can't be real.'

'I'm sure you thought the same thing about your brothers.' He said standing up. I tried soooo hard not to look.

'Some first date this was. We had dinner, went to a bar, I got attacked and you got naked.' I mumbled to myself.

He laughed offering me his hand.

'Why don't you just yank me to my feet?' I wondered aloud as he pulled me to his feet.

'No one touches an alpha without permission. I only got away with it before because you didn't know what you are.' He explained letting me go quickly. I grabbed his warm palm and inspected his arm. I'd seen ripped guys before but his skin and muscles felt strong and warm. I looked down and was momentarily distracted by his abs.

'Oh. So I could slap your brother in the face for choking me.' I mumbled when my brain started functioning normally again.

'Sure, Ryan's expecting a lot worse.'

'Yet, he saved me from wolfing out right?'

'Yes, although we're not sure if you're ready to phase yet.'

'I'll let it slide, this time.' I said letting his arm go. 'So if Ryan hadn't stopped me, I would have actually turned.'

'Maybe. You were extremely close to it. I wasn't even sure we'd be able to get you away in time before you woke up, but the tall, black haired guy teleported you away.'

'Oh god, Caleb used his power? They shouldn't have let him.' I cried in dismay as I darted around him throwing my door open.

'He did the right thing. You were very close to exposing us all.' He said following me. Reid made a face, tossing him a pair of jeans. Which he snagged out of the air without any effort and began to pull them on.

A car pulled up. Through the windows I could see it was the black car.

'Right.' I mumbled glaring at them. Walking to the door, I threw the door open.

'Hey, are you okay?' The tallest and oldest guy asked his eyes were a light icy blue. I immediately recognized him as the snow coloured wolf.

'I was just told I'm going to turn into a giant furball. I could be better.' I mumbled. The other guy had grey-blue eyes. I couldn't help but feel a little irritated with him. He had been the one that had attacked me twice now.

He flinched a little at my gaze. 'Sorry about before.'

'Whatever.' I said slamming the door behind them, making them flinch at the loud noise.

'So what happens, does this mean you three want to be a part of my pack?'

Ryan cocked and eyebrow. 'Warren, you didn't tell her everything?'

'I didn't have time to tell her everything.' He muttered. The older wolf snorted and sat down. I got the feeling he didn't really want to be here. Ryan sat next to him, looking comfortable. I saw him contemplate putting his foot on the table but he thought better of it.

'You may be an alpha but you're not old enough to lead a pack, well, not until you phase that is.'

'So you're just going to live in my town?'

'Jade.' Ty warned, shooting me a dark look.

'Only if you accept us, but if you don't we'll move on.' The oldest guy replied. He don't look like he cared much in fact he was growing more uncomfortable by the second.

'Would you relax?' I snapped. 'I'm not going to throw you out.'

Warren frowned. 'How can you tell what we're feeling? Can you smell it?'

'No. I can feel it. It's hard to explain.'

'Jade's empathic. We thought its a wolf trait.' Ty explained as he and Reid glanced at each other.

'Wolves have heightened senses, we can smell emotions.'

'Well I can't smell your emotions.' I muttered, as I moved to the kitchen. FIlling the jug, I turned it on and began the task of making myself a mocha. I needed something to keep my hands busy.

'Warren said your sight is getting better.'

'Yeah.'

'What about hearing?'

'A bit, maybe.'

'I don't think you're ready to phase yet.' The oldest said giving me the once over before averting his eyes.

'Didn't what happen before show you that I am?' I asked irritated that they were talking about me.

'What else has been happening to you?' Ryan asked cocking his head to the side.

'I had visions in my dreams of someone attacking my brothers which happened.'

'Alpha trait,' Warren supplied. 'If someone in your pack is in danger, you'll be able to see it.'

The water in the jug bubbled and it turned itself off. 'Right.' I muttered filling my mug with hot water. I decided to be completly honest with them, Maybe they could help me figure out what was going on with me. 'I get uneasy whenever my brothers use their powers, or when someone is doing something wrong and you saw what I did to Lilah.' I said flicking my eyes to Ty and Warren.

'You were defending your pack, that's natural. And I felt pretty uneasy when the tall one, Caleb was it, used his power on you. It may be a wolf thing.' Warren admitted.

'I wanted to punish that guy before.'

'Really?' Ryan asked cocking his head to the side assessing me.

'He was the one sizing up Charlie. Once he laid eyes on her, I wanted to kill him. It took everything I had in me to...' I trailed off as I walked to the arm of the couch. Everywhere else was taken so I sat down next to Ty.

Warren frowned. 'Wolves don't kill people. We don't generally kill anything unless we intend on eating it.'

My stomach shifted. Ty grabbed my hot drink out of my hands before I could drop the mug. 'Is there something wrong with me?'

'No, but I'd like to know who your birth parents are.' The oldest wolf said.

'Her records are sealed. I've already tried.' Ty told him. Wait, my brother had tried to find some answers?

'Is it possible she's half wolf and half something else?' Reid butted in.

'Unlikely, but not impossible,' Ryan replied as he watched me yawn. 'We should get going.' He and his brother stood up but Warren stayed where he was.

'Warren.' The eldest brother ordered but Warren only looked at me.

'He stays.' I said and the eldest guy ignored me.

'Warren...you know what could happen.'

I bristled. 'He stays. Now get the hell out. All of you.' I snarled as Ty gave me a worried look. Still, he stood up, kissed the top of my head, handed me my drink and left, motioning for Reid, who gritted his teeth.

'If you touch her...'

'I get it.' Warren growled.

'Enough.' I ordered. Finally, the others left leaving me in peace. Warren sat next to me. I leant back into the couch closing my eyes.

'It's a lot to take in, I know.'

'Yeah, I'll need a week to absorb it all. I bet you didn't even scratch the surface about what being a wolf means.'

'No, I figured smaller doses would be better.'

'Right, but if I start humping someone's leg, shoot me.' I mumbled while he chuckled under his breath.

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I woke up thinking last night was some bad dream but as I walked out of my bedroom and saw Warren on the couch sleeping on his side, snoring softly. Looking deliciously peaceful, I knew last night had really happened.

At least now I knew the truth.

I was a werewolf, an alpha. Everything was starting to make sense now. My family, my pack as I had been calling them, were protected by me even though my brothers were more powerful.

My stomach growled. Warren chuckled as he opened his eyes.

'Sorry I woke you.' I said as I went to fill the jug. I made us both mocha's and added a cube of sugar to each.

Warren sat up and the blanket slipped off his shoulders revealing a bare butt.

'Oh my...Warren please, _please_ put some clothes on.' I groaned spinning around covering my eyes while he laughed behind me.

'You'll get used it, being naked I mean. It's not like we get cold or anything. Wearing clothes is optional for us.'

'Nah uh!' I exclaimed as I busied myself getting breakfast ready. I didn't turn around until I heard him zip up his jeans. Once my brain started working again, I began making breakfast.

'Bacon, toast, scrambled eggs.' I mumbled to myself. When I turned, Warren was sitting at the bench looking at me with a tentative smile.

'What?'

'You're cute when you're flustered.'

'I'm not flustered.' I growled ignoring his laugh. 'Okay, maybe I am a tiny bit weirded out about the whole wolf thing but can you blame me? You had your whole life knowing what you are and my abilities just started up when that warlock tried to kill Caleb.' I said as I started getting our breakfast cooked.

'Even the empthy?' He prompted.

'Oh well, that I've had forever.' I replied dismissively.

'We need to find out who your parents are.'

'What if they're you know evil like your stepdad? Maybe that's why I hurt humans.'

'From what I have witnessed in the few weeks of knowing you, you only attack wrongdoers when somone you care about in in danger. I think that's a clue.'

Five minutes later, we were eating our breakfast. I had to admit I liked having Warren here, even though the hunk could put away a lot of food. Once we'd polished off our plates, I gathered them and rinsed them before putting them in the drying rack.

'So do you have any plans today?' I asked. Warren shruggled lazily.

'Do you?'

'Nope.'

'Wanna get out of here?' He asked with a grin.

'Yup.'

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The bar two towns over was packed and it was easy to see why. A newish teenage rock band with a girl vocalist was lighting up the room with her melodic vocals. What I noticed most was the top half of her piggy tailed hair was pitch black but the lengths were hot pink. Her blue eyes had found mine for the second time. She'd caught my eye halfway through a song and she'd watched me the whole time until the song ended. I don't know why I stood transfixed gazing at this girl as she strutted around the tiny stage owning it completly. No one cared that she had slightly crooked teeth, or that she had old scars on her wrists covered with cord bracelets. The confidence she had in herself was enough to make every single guy in the room drool.

This was a girl who had seen some shit in her young life and unlike everyone else in the room, I knew who she really was. I hadn't seen her in years but I would recognize those eyes anywhere.

'See I told you Metal To My Heart, is a good band. I'm surprised you haven't heard about them before.' Warren said with a wink.

'Yeah.' My voice cracked and I looked away. My friend, Abby Mirror had been beaten almost to death when I was in middle school. The song she had been singing before was a plea for help from her thirteen year old self and the helplessness she portrayed in the song was nothing but the god damn truth. As the memories washed over me, I had an unsettling thought. The prophetic dreams I'd had about Chase Collins, hadn't been my first phophetic dreams after all. Everything began to click together. Years ago, Abby had been in my pack and I had loved her like a sister and it had hurt like hell when she had left town. I'd been depressed for months.

After the set, I went to the bar to get a soda. I was sipping on my drink when I felt a soft tap on my shoulder.

'Jade?' The uncertainty in her voice mirrored her denim blue eyes as I turned to face the taller girl.

'Yeah, it's me. Hi Abby.' I said and she looked around casually, waving and smiling to a few fans that called her name.

'I wasn't expecting anyone from Ipswhich to be here. Did you want to go outside?' She asked sweetly.

I wasn't sure how to answer but a guy who smelt like beer leant closer to her, making her cringe a little made up my mind for me. I should probably get out of here before my wolfy side decided to add her to my pack again. Warren didn't need to be dragging me away from another bar.

'Sure.' We went out of the dingy bar and blinked in the afternoon light.

'Yo Abs,' her guitarist called and she waved sending him a small smile, 'Where are you going?'

'Just outside to get some air with an old friend, I've got my phone.' She called back, eyeing Warren with interest as he took the drink I handed, skulled it, placed it on the bar and followed after us.

'So what's with the bodyguard?' Abby asked still eying him with appreciation.

'Warren's the fan, he brought me.' I said nodding to the bike.

'Oh my, did sweet, shy Jadey jump onto the back of a guys bike?' She asked in shock.

'First time for everything.' I muttered.

Snorting, she muttered something I couldn't hear but Warren shot her a curious look. I turned to him eyeing the diner. 'Hey could you get us a couple of strawberry milkshakes?' I asked remembering that she was addicted to anything strawberry.

'Sure.' He said with a smile. I couldn't help but watch him walk away. Abby walked across the lot and I followed after her. She sat down and her blissful mood lessoned.

'Hey, are you okay?'

'What? Oh I'm fine, I forgot about your little ability,' she replied with a wink.

'Sorry, it's a reflex.'

Abby smiled knowingly. 'It's all good. I'm a little envious of that ability. I never know what somene wants from me,' she took a breath and started to sing, 'all it took was one hit, and I was down, down, down. Fall, alongside me and see, he was knocking me around, around, around. No one dared except you, no one cared, except you.' She sang softly. Even though her voice was tired, she still sang the words perfectly. I didn't know how I felt. Recalling the rest of the lyrics, the words hit home and now I knew why she had looked at me the whole time she had sung that song. Even though it had been three years Abby still thought about me.

'You wrote that song about me?' I breathed.

She smiled, her eyes twinkling. 'Yeah, you had a everlasting impression on me.'

'Wow, thanks. I don't feel like I deserve it though.'

'You're a good person, Jade. You saved my life in more ways than I can count.' She reminded me. I sighed shaking my head. All I had done was force a confession from her stepfather. To this day I still didn't know how I managed it. Warren appeared and sat down next to me.

'You two are obviously friends.' He said with an easy grin. Handing her her drink, Abby shifted her butt to get out her wallet but he waved her off.

'Yeah, old, old friends.' Abby said with a small smile.

Warren sent me a look. 'And you were grumbling about the band.'

'Well, it's not like you showed me any of the songs before we left.' I reminded him poking him sharply in the ribs.

'Right.' He said taking a long pull from the milkshake before handing it to me.

'Yo Abby!' A guy called and she stood up and waved. 'We gotta go.' I stood up and she hugged me hard. Grabbing her phone we traded numbers and she smiled at me.

'Call me and we'll have a proper catch up,' she promised.

'Sure, anytime.' I said as she darted away waving at me as she went. Warren stood with a sudden frown.

'What is it?' I asked looking around.

'I don't know, I just sense something off.'

'About Abby?'

'No, I don't know. I just sensed we were being watched, you didn't feel that?'

'Nope but then I was blocking everything out. When we were younger Abby's emotions were so strong I had to block her out to stop from going crazy.'

'Did you see those scars on her wrists?' He asked as we went back to his bike.

I shrugged, heading for the bike. 'Some of them were from when she was shoved through a glass window.'

'Some are newer.'

God damn him and his perfect sight. I nodded. 'If we reconnect I'll ask her about it, but if I chase after her and ask her straight out if she's a cutter then all I'm going to get from her is hostility. Besides I can't worry about her right now. We _have_ to find out what I am before I go psychotic again.'

'I agree.'

'And Warren?'

'What?'

'Thanks for taking me away for a while, I needed it.'

'You're welcome. So what do we do now?' He asked looking around. We'd passed a mall on our way to the bar.

'I think we should head back before it gets much colder.' Unlike him, I still felt the coldness.

'Sure.' He replied stepping over his bike. Pulling on my helmet, I perched behind him watching his butt as he kickstarted the bike to life. Soon we were roaring off towards the highway.


	9. Chapter 9

**Nine**

Mist was covering the grounds as I walked through Pogue's estate. I don't know why I was here so late but as I exited the trees finding myself in the circular clearing we used to play in as kids, I saw my brother in battle with someone I had hoped was dead. They were throwing energy balls and flying through the air, taunting each other. Suddenly something changed and Collins got the upperhand. Getting behind Pogue, he kicked his legs out from under him clenching his fists. Pogues hands went to his throat as he started to choke, his eyes widening in fear.

'Stop it!' I screamed but my pleas fell on deaf ears.

'Give me your power, or I'll kill them all.' Collins growled harshly.

'No.' Pogue gasped. Punching him in the side of the head, my brother fell to the ground gasping. Throwing an energy ball at him, Collins flew twenty feet. The grin on Collins face told me he was just playing with my brother. Climbing onto the rock, I sat down and watched tears filled my eyes but I blinked them away. All I could do was watch and wait for the vision to end.

I didn't have to wait long. Minutes later, covered in his own blood and holding onto his broken ribs, Pogue crouched on the ground, gasping and coughing up blood.

'It didn't have to be this way.' Collins said conjuring a knife. Stabbing Pogue in the shoudler, I screamed in rage as Pogue cried out in agony.

'Your families will pay for this, even your sweet little sister.' Collins whispered, sending chills down my spine.

'No...leave her alone.' Pogue begged.

Collins smirked. 'I don't think I will. She's a fine looking girl.'

Pogue reached for the knife and tried to yank it out, but Collins was too quick for him. 'Don't, please she's innocent.'

'So was I.' He whispered relishing in the moment as Pogue started to choke on his own blood. 'You know what I want. Do this and I will leave your precious family alone.'

Gritting his teeth Pogue drew in a shaky breath. 'I. Will. You. My. Power.' Pogue whispered staring into the cold eyes of Chase Collins. I watched as the light in my brother's eyes faded as he let out his last breath, his body going limp as he fell face first to the ground while Chace Collins stood, looming over him feeling victorius. Thunder and lightning boomed over us.

'NOOOOOOO!' Wrenching myself out of the vision, I sat in the dark trembling wiping the cold sweat off my face. 'This can't be happening,' I moaned. Not again. Punching the pillow, I let out a strangled scream as I burst into tears. After a few moments, I steeled myself, got out of bed, changed the sweat soaked sheets, tossing my pj's and sheets into the basket. Only then did I let out the shriek that had been bubbling inside of me.

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Numb, I arrived at school the next morning obsessing about Pogue. Chase Collins was back or he was going to come back. The bastard was going to kill my brother when he ascended. Charlie was leaning against my locker with her books already in her arms, the nerd. I barely spared her a glance before I opened my locker door. I was beyond exhausted and it wouldn't take much to set me off.

'So...how are you?' She asked reading my blank face.

'Fine,' not able to keep the bite from my voice.

Charlie's eyes widened a fraction. 'Did those guys hurt you after I left?' It took me a few long moments to remember what she was going on about. Huh, the bar, those two guys. It all seemed like nothing now

'No, I hurt them.' I muttered distractedly ignoring her gasp, unintentionally flinching as she reached to hug me. I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts. It didn't work. I should have taken a mental day off or faked an illness. Did wolves get sick? I hadn't thought to ask.

'What happened? Jade, please tell me,' she begged reaching for me again. I couldn't help but shift away.

'Nothing really, one of them grabbed me but I kicked their asses and my brothers saved me and ran em through.' I babbled before trying to remember what classes I had first. Instead, I grabbed the first couple of folders I saw and my Math's text book. The dread I'd felt with Caleb was creeping up on me. Breathing in shakily, I ordered myself to get a grip.

'Jade, what's wrong? Something is really bothering you, I can tell.'

Slamming my locker shut I drew in a shaky breath. 'I can't talk about it right now, I need to get to class.' I muttered before I bolted away.

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At lunch, I was sitting down staring at my phone, ignoring the worried looks my friends was sending me. Finally, Jake struck up a conversation about his history homework and Charlie finally turned away. I kept trying to text the group about what I had seen, only to delete the messages before sending them. After some debating, I realized the only person I could talk about this was Caleb. He was the most level headed guy out of the group. Pogue was impulsive and if he knew what was coming he'd lose his shit, and I didn't have all of the info yet. I couldn't tell Reid either because I didn't trust him not to do anything stupid, and Ty would want to send me away again. I picked up the phone and sent a quick message.

 **Me:** Can you pick me up after school?

 **Caleb:** Sure

 **Me:** Thanks

It was raining when Caleb's silver convertable pulled to a stop outside the gates. Jogging to it, I opened the door, and slipped inside slamming the door to keep the wind from snagging the door. Caleb took one look at my face and hesitated as he pulled away from the curb.

'Something happened at school?' He asked taking my hand squeezing gently.

'No. Quit guessing and drive.'

'Jadey, are you okay?'

Why did people ask that when it's obvious I'm not okay? Biting back a retort I snorted. 'No.'

'Will a milkshade help?'

'I don't know. I...I need to tell you something something big.'

'What's going on kid? You're scaring me a little.'

'Where did you send Collins?' Caleb jerked the wheel a tiny bit and he frowned.

'I don't know where exactly, I think it might have been a hell dimension.'

I took in a deep breath. 'He's coming back, for Pogue.' I said in a rush.

I was expecting him to ask if I was crazy or tell me to stop being stupid but he did neither. 'Damn it. Are you sure?'

'I saw Pogue will Collins his power last night. It was exactly like it was last time. The first time I dreamt it, I only saw snippets but as the week progressed I saw more and more of what Collins was planning. As the week progressed and you lot started to figure things out, the vision changed but not by much.' I rambled as I began to tell him about the vision. After I finished telling about what I had seen last night, Caleb stayed silent for a few minutes before he looked at me.

'Don't tell Pogue.'

'I won't but we can't lie either. We need to get ready. Collins can become anyone and I may be the only who can sense who he is. I doubt he'll announce his arrival until Halloween, but I guess I'll know more tonight.' I replied hugging my knees to my chest.

Nodding, Caleb gritted his teeth. 'I don't want you getting involved.'

'It's too late for that. Last time I couldn't help you but I think I can help Pogue. We can't let him will his power away.'

'We won't.'

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I was standing at my locker when I heard footsteps behind me. A trendy young man who looked like a temp teacher was peering confusedly at a map. He had a computer bag over one shoulder. Students either didn't notice him or didn't care as they passed by. His hair was dark brown and his eyes were a hazel. He caught me looking and gave me a small smile. His smile faltered when Jake accidentally brushed past him but he let it go and approached me. 'Hi, I'm awful at reading maps. Can you point me in the direction to the computer science lab?'

'Oh um, those classes have been moved to the next floor.' I said pointing to the stairs. Why the office hadn't told him that before was beyond me.

'Thanks.' He said giving me a sheepish grin and headed off.

Waking up, I sat up blinking. Why was I dreaming of some guy I'd never met...unless it was Collins. Crap, crap, crap.

Grabbing my phone I bit my lip. I'd been debating on whether to tell Warren's pack what was going on but if Collins was going to turn up at my school posing as a teacher, he had to know. Five minutes later, he replied.

 **Me:** Are you awake?

 **Warren:** Am now

 **Me:** I need you to meet me at the treehouse, right now

 **Warren:** Why?

 **Me:** Get your furry ass here

 **Warren:** Fine, it's not like I need sleep or anything

 **Me** : Your alpha demands your presence dumbass

 **Warren:** Resorting to insults now are we? Nice

Slipping out of my bed, I crossed to the window, opened it, slipping over the sill and launched towards the ground. My feet had barely touched the ground when I bolted for the trees.

I was pacing inside my treehouse, when Warren appeared ten minutes later, only wearing shorts. Walking slowly, his worried, tired eyes never left my face. His hair was all mussed up and he dragged a hand through his hair, only making it worse.

'Hey,' He said breathlessly.

'Hey yourself.' I said, momentarily forgetting why I had ordered him here. Walking up to the steps, I opened the door for him. Once we were inside, I shut the door sagging against it. Pressing my lips together, I tried to fight the fear that was slowly creeping up on me. Like usual, he smelt my emotions and he turned to face me.

'Has something happened?' He asked sitting on the sofa while I paced the room.

'I had a vision.' I admitted, chomping on my lower lip.

'What?'

'Pogue is in danger.'

'Why?'

'There's a fifth brother, you see. Chase collins. He's psychotic and he tried to take Caleb's power when he ascended in september. We all thought we were safe since Caleb sent him to a hell dimension or something but Collins is coming back, or he's already here, waiting for Pogue to ascend.'

'When does this all happen?'

'Halloween.'

'Shit.'

'Yeah. Thirteen days and counting.' I muttered to myself.

'So you saw what happens...'

'I saw Pogue will his power away and I can't let him do that because if he does, he'll die. As the week progresses and now that we're forewarned, I won't just see his decisions, I'll dream about Chase's decisions too.' I explained in a rush.

'So that was the dream you saw before?'

'No, that was last nights vision. I was going to tell you at school, but I...I couldn't. Tonight I dreamt of a temp teacher at our school. I know it's him. I'm a target.'

Warren blinked. 'Why would he do that for?'

'That's what Collins does. He plays games on people, he gets off on watching people suffering.'

'Why not go after his girlfriend?'

I started to feel dizzy and I realized I wasn't breathing. 'Collins did that last time. If he starts playing games with them they'll catch on. So he's going after me because I'm the innocent one. Collins expects I won't know anything about what happened. He thinks that I will either believe I'm going crazy or dimiss what's happening.'

'Only he doesn't know about what you really are.'

'Here's hoping. I want to suck this bastard in and then...'

'Kill him.' Warren finished for me. His eyes went dark and he gritted his teeth.

'He's not human anymore he;s a monster and he's going to try to destroy my family. I have to protect my pack before one of them kills him. Caleb couldn't live with himself if he actually murdered someone, even someone as deranged as Collins. None of them could.' I snapped.

'You can't kill anyone. My stepfather was a killer. He's the worst sort of person you could ever meet.'

Did he think I was going to back down so easily? Come on man. 'Collins killed his adoptive parents on his eighteenth birthday in July and a new kid at Spencer. All he wants is more power. It's an addiction and he'll never stop until someone kills him. Hell what do you think will happen if one of my brothers kill him? Caleb already sent him to a hell dimension and the bastard survived it. I can't have my brothers going crazy and using their powers. I won't let them become like Collins.'

'You can't protect them from everything.'

'You're right, I can't but I can protect them from him.' Maybe.

Damon's eyes blazed. 'He's a fucking warlock, what can you do to him?'

I shrugged thinking about the vision. I smiled coldly. 'He wants a target and I'm going to give him one and you will not interfere in _any_ way. You got that?' Growling under his breath, he gazed at me for a while before I hardened my stare. Instantly he dropped his gaze.

'I better go warn my brothers to lay low.'

'Yeah, trust me. You don't want this freakshow knowing there are other beings out there.' I said and he nodded, got up and walked out.

'I'll see you tomorrow.' He said softly.

'Yeah, see you.'

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I woke up in the morning on the couch of my treehouse. Confused, I sat up, blinking away the traumatic memories I had been dreaming about. Why I had dreamt of Abby's attack was anyone's guess. Remembering Liam's screams when I touched his head was enough to scare me a little. I had barely begun breathing properly when I heard footsteps behind me. I whirled around, barely holding in a snarl as Ty pulled himself onto the bench, raising an eyebrow as he bit into a pop tart. Using my empathy, I tested out my ability releasing a sigh of relief. I wondered why my brother was here wearing his uniform. He must have left campus just to see me.

Ty eyed me thoughtfully. 'Are you okay? Dad said you snuck out last night.'

'Sure,' I replied taking the pop tart he offered. I ate the delicious morsel slowly to keep myself from talking. My quiet brother was extremely smart and if I wasn't careful...

'Were you meeting up with Warren?'

I hated lying to him, but I had to. 'We're not like that.'

'But you're dating him.'

'I guess...I don't know. I mean we're wolves but I'm the alpha and I get the feeling his brothers don't want him spending too much time with me for some reason.'

His annoyance lit up like a beacon. 'You mean they didn't tell you?'

'Tell me what?' I sighed resisting the urge to repeatedly smack my head on the counter as I felt how uncomfortable he was becoming. 'What?' I grumbled.

'The more time you two spend together the likely you two will become mates in the future. Apparently they all have alpha traits and any of them could become a potential mate for you.'

What's left of my appetite disappeared. 'Oh.'

Ty searched my face. 'You really had no idea.'

'Yeah, guess they thought I shouldn't know about that little piece of information yet.'

'Warren might want to be alpha.' Ty pointed out.

'Really? Warren tried to stare me down and still can't quite match me yet.' I replied with a tiny smile. Last night, he'd lasted longer than he ever had. Suspicion clawed at my gut. Maybe he did want to be alpha, maybe he would fight me for the territory. And he could fight me. He was already physically stronger and faster than I was. How long would it be before he tried to take my territory?

'Or he could just wanna be your guy forever.' Ty's warning broke into my worried thoughts and I looked up at him. Okay so there were two reasons why he'd want to be alpha and I didn't know which one I liked better.

'I wonder why they didn't tell me about this,' I mused to myself while I tried to clamp down on the suspicion. Last night, he'd tried telling me what to do and I had for a fleeting momont hesitated.

'You're sixteen. No one wants to think about you doing the deed...' Ty trailed off with a grimace. Clamping down on the heated vision that had entered my mind, I snorted loudly. Shaking his head, Ty jumped down from the bench.

'Come on, you gotta get ready for school.'

'I think I need a mental health day.'

'Aw come on, you only get four passes a year.' Ty said wrapping an arm around my shoulders steering me to the door.

'Can't I borrow one of your passes?' I pleaded.

'Hell to the no. Come on sis, I'll buy you a sundae after school.' he promised tugging me close.

I pouted. 'Better be a big one.'

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I was at my locker, students milled around and there was nothing usual about this, but as a quiet guy I saw every day in my classes, dropped his book, I spun, watching one of the cheerleaders flirting with a nerd, something felt off. It wasn't until I got to my locker, I remembered my vision. Minutes later, I heard footsteps behind me and steeled myself as I felt a wave of smugness hit me.

I turned finding the trendy young man I'd seen in my vision peering confusedly at a map. He had a computer bag over his left shoulder. Students either didn't notice him or didn't care as they passed by. His hair was dark brown and his eyes were a hazel shade promising mischief. He caught me staring and gave me a small smile. His smile faltered, his eyes growing cold when Jake accidentally brushed past him but he let it go and approached me, his eyes warmed up. 'Hi, I'm awful at reading maps. Can you point me in the direction to the computer science lab?' I was immediately glad that I was empathic but even though he was acting nice, the act wasn't that good. His smile never reached his eyes. I wondered how stupid my brothers were, not being able to read this punk when they first met him, but then they had been cocky believing no one else was like them.

'Oh um, those classes have been moved to the next floor.' I replied pointing to the stairs.

'Thanks.' He said giving me a sheepish grin and headed off.

'Oooh who is _that_?' Charlie ased in a hushed voice as she appeared next to me.

 _Ew_ , I thought darkly to myself. Instead I turned to Charlie who was toying with her green hair. 'Some temp, I guess.' I replied with a shrug.

'He's hot.'

'And you're also jail bait,' I reminded her sternly. She gave me a funny look, scoffed and walked off. 'Whatever.' I muttered to myself as I slammed my locker.

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Sitting through the computer science class was disturbingly normal. Mr Riley, didn't just pretend to know this subject, he seemed to enjoy it. Only I knew he was completely faking it. He wandered around the room helping students and acting cool, but I sensed he was watching me the whole time. I should have faked PMS or something to get out of class, but I also knew I had to play my part. I had to make him think I didn't suspect anything, when all I wanted to do was tear him limb from limb.

My alarm blared and Mr Riley's head turned toward me. Not to mention the entire class. Showtime.

'Why do you have your cell phone out?' He asked coolly.

'I'm aneamic. Actually, I shouldn't even be in school right now. One tiny little paper cut could kill me.' I replied sarcastically as I withdrew the old pill bottle I'd found in my bathroom cabinet before Ty had driven me to school. It was now filled with vitamin pills. Popping the lid, I took one out, daring him to stop me. He didn't but was frowning at me feining concern.

'All medication should be at the infirmary,' he finally said.

'And walk all that way? I may trip, or fall down the stairs and bleed out. Nice plan.' I replied through narrowed eyes, placing the pill on my tongue, snatching up my water bottle, I took a long pull before swallowing the water.

'See me at the end of class.' He said walking away.

'Yes _sir_ ,' I muttered sarcastically under my breath. He paused for a beat but continued the rest of the way to his desk.

Ten minutes later, the bell rang and everyone shot out of their seats, eager for lunch while I sat in the back, watching as he walked towards me. Even with him ten feet away, I was barely able to restrain myself. I really, really wanted to do some damage to this freaks face.

'Did something happen in your morning classes? You seemed very passive aggressive before.'

I sucked in a breath rolling my eyes. 'I get moody when I'm feeling off. And I'm definitely _not_ passive agressive.'

'Why not take the day off?'

Why indeed? Instead of answering, I grabbed my books and stood up.

'Jade, if you're not well maybe you should go home.'

'I'm fine.' I muttered, trying to ignore how close he was to me. Thankfully, he let it go and I walked out of the classroom hating that I had turning my back on my enemy. Gritting my teeth I knew this wasn't going to work.

Grabbing my phone I sent Caleb a hurried text.

 **Caleb:** I'll tell Ty I'm tutoring you in science.

 **Me:** Good idea.

 **Caleb:** R u Ok?

 **Me:** Smell you later.

I hurried off to my locker, stuffed my backpack inside and leant against the door. Warren appeared.

'You look pale.' He muttered scenting my moods.

'I was so close...' I trailed off.

'If you don't think you can control yourself without exposing us, you shouldn't risk it.'

'And you need to stop telling me what to do. You're not my alpha.' I muttered. Taken aback he put his hands up in surrender backing away from me. Jake appeared crunching into an apple.

'Lovers spat?' He teased with his usual grin.

'Jake, go and flirt with Charlie and leave me the hell alone.'

'Why? You're so much more funny to annoy, especially since you're sick and all.' He replied with a wink.

'You know what passive aggressiveness says about a person right?' I asked glaring up at him. 'We both know _I'm_ not passive so back off before I make you.' I snapped. I needed to get out of here before I really lost it. Why did I think I could handle being within a thousand yards of this murderer who was walking through this school? What if Collins attacked another student? Knowing me, I'd probably expose myself in seconds. No wonder Warren was freaking out. I'd made it to the library when the goddamn wolf caught up with me again; his worry coming off him in waves. I knew he wasn't going to let me go anywhere alone until the threat was sorted. Great.

'I'm sorry, I'm just worried about you.'

'I know, and I'm sorry I want to kill him before he hurts someone.' I muttered once he opened the door and nodded for me to go through. We found my favourite spot in the library scanning the new releases section. Taking a few books off the shelves, I read the blurb and sat down on the comfortable couch.

'You know if you phase into a wolf you're going to have freaked out students on your hands.'

That thought sobered my erratic thoughts instantly. 'I thought that wouldn't happen until my senses had developed more.'

'It's mostly the case but extreme fear for someone or rage can set anyone off and since we still haven't figured out who your biological parents are, I think we're playing with fire. We don't know what else you can do. You need to stay calm.'

I nodded looking at my hands, the memory of Abby's stepfathers screams entered my brain and I shuddered. 'I've been thinking about that a bit. You remember Abby? We all used to be friends me mind in kindergarten and became inseperable. Charlie didn't know it, but Abby's stepfather was, well there was something off about him. From the moment I set eyes on him, something in my head told me to run, but I couldn't. If anything, what I sensed from him made me that much closer to Abby. I felt as strongly for her as I do my own brothers.' I drew in a breath and shook my head. 'She was thirteen when he finally snapped. Abby, Charlie and I walked to her house for our usual friday night sleepover we used to take turns every week hosting. Anyway when we got to her house, all I could feel was fear and rage. I rushed through the house to see him hitting Abby's mom Adilyn in the kitchen. Before I could stop her, Abby grabbed a frying pan and started hitting him over the head. She must have hit him three times and he should have gone down, but he didn't. He grabbed her and I lost it. I jumped on his back and started squeezing his throat so he rammed me up against the wall. Next thing I know, it's getting dark and Adilyn is crying over Abby's body in the backyard while Charlie is on the phone screaming for help.'

Warren's eyes went round. 'You must have been terrified.'

I nodded, wiping away tears I didn't know were strolling down my cheeks in rapid succession. 'I was, until I felt his rage and I knew he was coming back. So I went after him.'

'All by yourself?'

'Adilyn was working on Abby and Charlie was on the phone so someone had to do it. I ran up to her room and found the baseball bat she hid under the bed and I started tracking him. I found him in the front yard stalking towards the house. Maybe I tapped into my speed or something because the next thing I know, I was hitting him all over with the bat. Finally, he tore the bat from me and threw it away. Why didn't he fall unconscious? I'd hit him on the head as hard as I could at least four times and I knew I'd cracked some of his ribs but instead he came went for my throat screaming at me in rage. I don't know why, but one moment, his hands were on my throat squeezing, choking the life out of me, and the next, my hands were on his bloody face and he was screaming. I wasn't pressing his head too hard but he dropped to his knees. He was still screaming when the police arrived. I don't know what I did or why I forgot about it.' I muttered with a shake of my head.

'It was pretty traumatic. Truama victims either remember nothing or everything,' He explained wisely taking my hands in his he squeezed a little. 'This is probably another clue.'

'Warren, I shouldn't have forgotten it at all because I'd been dreaming about him attacking Abby for weeks. What's the point in dreaming about future threats if I can't do anything to stop them now?' I asked feeling completly helpless.

'It's just part of being an alpha.'

'If I see your stepfather coming for you, will I dream about him?'

'We all will, and you don't have to worry about that.' He promised me, but I didn't really believe him. I had been ignoring his past ever since I had met him, mostly because he didn't want to talk about it, but one of these days, I was going to need to know what I was signing up for.

'We really need to talk to Ty tonight.' He said swiftly changing the subject.

'Why?'

'Because he's the one that's trying to find out who you are.'

'I thought he'd given up.'

Warren snorted. 'Do you really think your brothers would give up that easily? They've been researching lore day and night.'

I rolled my eyes snorting loudly. 'I'd pay to see Pogue and Reid in the library.' He smirked and squeezed my hand. I looked down with a sigh and he let me go as if I'd electrocuted him.

'I just hope I live long enough to figure out the truth.'

'Nothing is going to happen to you. I won't let it.' Warren promised me.

'If Pogue dies, I won't survive it.' I whispered.

'Then we won't let it happen.'


	10. Chapter 10

**Ten**

Diving into Caleb's car, I sighed looking at his dark eyes which mirrored the same worry I felt. Without a word, he pulled away from the curb. Knowing now was not the right time to tell him about Chase Collins, I directed him to the beach that used to be Tim and my spot. Since no one came here, I figured we'd have privacy.

Once we were sitting on a log facing the cove, Caleb turned to me. 'You had another vision last night didn't you?'

'Yeah, about that, um Chase Collins is impersonating my computer science teacher.' I admitted looking at my hands.

Caleb slammed his hands on the steering wheel. 'Oh shit.'

'There's one good thing that's come from this. I can track him. Even in a large crowd I can track him. I'll always know who he is if even if he's impersonating someone.'

'Must be a wolf thing.'

'Could be or its that other thing.' I replied nudging him with my elbow. I didn't like his constant worry. I had to block him out before I turned neurotic.

'How are you dealing with all of this?'

'I'm okay I guess.' I wasn't about to tell him how anxious I felt or how angry I was that Collins had come back to attack my family.

'And your pack?' I groaned loudly. I still hadn't thought about what I was going to do about those three mutts running around in my territory.

'Don't remind me. Oh before I forget, have you narrowed the search down? Warren mentioned you were searching trying to figure out my freaky side.'

'We've narrowed it down some.'

'Care to enlighten me?'

'Reid's researching demi-gods right now, Pogue is looking up pagan gods, and Tyler, is trying to to access your family's lawyers records seeing as your school records were a bust.'

'Ever think of using magic and just conjuring up the papers? And I'm not buying this whole demi-god thing.'

'He'd rather not use his powers.'

'Oh so Ty's suddenly become a goody two-shoes now?'

'Yeah, I don't get it either,' he replied with a small smile.

We sat in silence for a while, but once we saw dark clouds on the horizon, Caleb stood up and held out his hand. Taking it, he pulled me into a one armed hug.

'We're going to beat this guy and then we're going to boogie.' I promised, nudging him with my hip.

'Oh no.'

'Oh yes. I know you can dance.'

'Nope.'

'Liar, liar.'

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Sitting in class the next day, I hurriedly did the coding work on the computer I had ten minutes to complete when I sensed Collins walking up behind me. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled and I craned my head around to look at him. He'd been hovering around the back of the class, being so damn helpful to the students it was grating on my nerves.

And the girls were lapping up the attention crooning his name while they played with their hair. God, if they knew he was a sociopath they'd be running for the hills, unless that's what they liked in a man.

Finally, he moved on and I turned back to my computer. With a sigh of relief I went back to my work.

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Warren appeared at my locker at the end of the day. He felt bitterly angry and as I tugged my backpack out, and shut the door, I could feel him battling with something. He'd been composed and almost normal at lunch so I knew something had happened during class, I just didn't know what.

Without so much as a word, he offered his hand and I took it, letting him lead me to his bike. 'I need to take you somewhere.'

'Then I have to call Caleb because he's picking me up today. I'm supposed to watch him and my brother train.'

'Well that's fun and all, but don't you think there are other things we could be doing?' He hinted but I had no idea what he meant so I let it go as Charlie brushed through a crowd to get to me.

'Hey, Jade are you two headed to the diner or bar? I could use a burger.' Charlie trilled as she toyed with her hair.

'How about we meet up at six? We have plans right now.' I said as I started walking towards the stairs.

'Ooooh a date, okay, I'll see you later.' She trilled happily disappearing into the crowd with a wave.

I turned to Warren. 'Where are we going?'

'You'll see.'

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An hour later, I was watching for onlookers while Warren broke into a house that Mr Riley had been renting. Both of us were wearing black disposable gloves he'd thought to bring with him and I was starting to grow annoyed with Warren because he still hadn't told us why we'd ridden three towns over to come here.

'You're going to have to explain to me why we're here.' I said as the door opened with a click.

'You'll see.' He said slipping inside. I followed suit, shutting the door behind me. It hit me the instant the door was shut. The house was clean, very clean but something felt off.

'Do you feel that? The need to run?'

'Someone did magic here, a lot of magic.' I muttered moving into the house while my stomach churned.

'What else do you sense?' He asked peering around. I wish he'd just tell me what the hell we were doing here so we coould leave already.

'What do you want me to sense?' I countered.

'Jade, you need to stop thinking like a human and allow your other senses to tell you the story.' Warren ordered as he moved down the hallway. Stepping further into the house, I turned left into a small living room. There was a lot of negative energy in here. Standing in the middle of the room, I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. A hint of a smell of decaying meat entered my nose and I opened my eyes spinning around trying to find out where it came from but all I could see was a clean room. Actually it was too clean. There wasn't a speck of dirt or hair on the wooden floorboards.

'Warren?' I whispered as I turned aruond finding myself alone in the darkness. I could hear someone walking around the other side of the house but it still made me feel uneasy that he'd just left me. Edging through the room, I found a dining room that had nothing out of place and it was somewhat easier to walk through here. I walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge to find everything cleared out. Weird. Closing the door, I turned to find Warren watching me.

'What do you sense?'

'Death, I think.' I muttered while he nodded lookig grim.

'The real guy is dead, but Collins is posing as him.' Warren said looking around.

'Well duh. We need to get out of here before he finds us here then.' I said taking his hand and pulling it to the door. We were at the door when a car drove down the road.

I don't know how I knew it was Collins but I did. Pulling Warren down through the house, we slipped out of the laundry door and raced along the back wall to the side of the house and slipped down it. Once we heard the front door slam shut, I shot out of our hiding spot with Warren right behind me.

The second we made it to his bike that Warren had left in the car park of a park, I turned on Warren. 'The next time you decide to do something stupid, don't. We could have been killed by that bastard.'

'We had to know for sure.'

'I _did_ know. I'm not an idiot, I've seen what he does to the people I love.' I snapped. I didn't talk to him the whole ride home and I was still fuming when we met up with Charlie two hours later.

My bestie was seated in the diner sipping on a green milkshake when I arrived, freshly changed. Warren, thankfully rode off on his bike.

'So...you look kinda pissed. Is Warren that bad at kissing?'

'No, he's just irritating and devious and cunning and not to mention a total rogue.' I snapped. Pressing my lips together I shook away the frustration and sighed expellig my anger.

'That does not bode well.' Charlie replied softly.

I managed a weak smile as Letty wandered over asking if I wanted a milkshake. I asked for a purple shake and she winked at me before wandering off.

'So you'll never guess who added me on facebook last night.' Charlie said effectively changing the subject as she drummed her fingers on the table looking a little weirded out. That made me sit up a little. Had Collins added her on facebook? Oh god, did he even have facebook? I was starting to feel nauseous when I suddenly remembered our childhood friend.

'Abby?' I asked distractedly while Charlie choked a little.

'Um yeah...did she add you? Or is Telepathy your thing now?' She joked but I could sense the worry she was trying to hide.

'The first one.' I replied, swallowing hard. I needed better acting skills. I should have taken drama instead of computer science.

Charlie nodded. 'Do you want to talk about it? I do, but I mean the last time we saw her...'

'I know and I think we should talk about it. It's amazing how much you forget as time moves forward. I feel bad that we went on our lives without her.' I rambled.

'I think that's a good thing. I had nightmares about that afternoon for months. I ended up in therapy, besides she's the one that left, not us.' Charlie reminded me.

'Same.' I muttered as Letty arrived with my milkshake. I sipped the perfectly pastel purple milkshake and smiled a little.

'I listened to some of Abby's music. You know she wrote a song about you.'

'You, I know.'

'She practically shouted out that there's something special about you.'

'Yup.' I said sipping my drink.

'Okay, so if I tell my gamer friends that I know a honest to god psychic you won't care?' She pressed sounding annoyed but I was too busy dealing with the turbulent thoughts in my head to care.

'I will, but its easy to deny.' I said looking her dead in the eye. Flinching, she sat back.

'Why aren't you mad at her?' Charlie demanded crossing her arms.

'It's subtext. Abby didn't name names, she wrote about the truth of that day and what happened.' I pointed out. Charlie finally nodded. I sensed her mood lighten.

'Soooo...what am I going to do about Jake?' She asked thankfully changing the subject.

'What do you want him to do?'

She lowered her eyes feeling sad. 'I'd like him to grow up and ask me out on a proper date, but we both know that's not likely to happen.'

'Boys suck.'

'Warren doesn't.'

'He's oddly mature for his age, actually, wait I take that back,' I replied as I finished the last of my drink. Just then the door opened and I was instantly irritated as Reid swaggered in. Whatever did he want now?

Charlie's eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas and I let out a small groan. 'Maybe I'll ask Reid for help with the Jake situation.'

'Charlie, don't play games with Jake, that's mean. Be the bigger person.'

'Well if I wait around for him to open his eyes, I'll be the only person at prom without a date.'

'I totally forgot about that. Be my date then, problem solved.'

'Um aren't you going with Warren?'

'Er I don't think prom would be his thing.' Actually, I wasn't sure we were going to survive halloween but whatever.

'You never know, he could be a dancer.'

'And I'm the queen of Mordor.' I replied while she snorted, shaking her green hair at me.

'Hey mermaids.' Reid said as he slipped into the booth and wrapped an arm around me.

'Hello human. Would you like me to use my siren abilities to drown you in the sea?' Charlie teased narrowing her eyes to slits.

Reid pretended to think for a long moment. 'Er nope, but you get points on knowing mermaid lore.'

'Dude we live next to the sea. For all you know we could be.' Charlie teased toying with her long wavy green locks.

I waved my hand. 'Um hello, afraid of water.' I pointed out while Reid pulled me closer to his warm body.

'Dude, what's with you?' I asked as I sensed something from him. He was concerned and it surprised me but before I could ask what was going on, Letty arrived and I lost my train of thought. We placed our order and she walked off humming a beatles song.

Ten minutes later, we were tucking into our salmon burgers and hot fries. Once finished, Reid surprisingly paid for us and Charlie's dad arrived to pick her up leaving me alone with Reid.

Once we were out in the cold, I noticed Reid's hands shaking. I grabbed his hands realizing how cold he was.

'Nicky's?' I asked but he shook his head.

'Ty's coming to get us. But I gotta ask you something first.' He said sighing. I watched as he clenched his fists before shoving them into his pocket.

'What?' I saked warily.

'Are you having visions of Collins coming back?'

I froze. Had Collins done something to him or someone else? 'Um what? Why would I be having visions about him?' I asked folding my arms. It looked like Caleb's plan was breaking apart.

'Caleb's acting weird. He's worried, I can tell.'

'Pogue is ascending next week, that's probably it. I know I'm worried he'll jump off the deep end and do something crazy like win the lottery...' I trailed off attempting to be humorous but Reid wasn't having it.

'Jade, you'd tell me if something was coming right?'

'Reid, I know you. Even if something was going to happen, you'd get yourself killed. That's why Caleb faced Collins alone the last time. Besides Collins wouldn't want you, he'd want Pogue but he'd kill you if he had to.'

'Exactly. Pogue needs to be ready. We all do.' He countered glowering at me.

'You really believe he's back? What makes you think that?'

'I have a very bad feeling in my gut and this time I'm listening to it. Tyler does too.'

'Shit.' I spat whirling around facing the diner. I didn't want to lie anymore but at the same time I had to protect the idiot.

'It's true isn't it Jade? He's back.' Reid muttered unable to keep the fear out of his voice.

Closing my eyes, I faced him. I hoped Caleb would forgive me for admitting it and I hoped to heaven and back that Reid wouldn't do anything stupid. 'Yes, Chase is back and he killed a temp teacher and is now my computer science teacher.'

I watched at Reid's eyes went from worried to terrified. 'He's going after you? Has he done anything yet?'

'No, I think he wants something from me but hasn't decided what yet. My future isn't set. Only what he's going to do to Pogue is.'

Reid's pale face paled further. 'He's going to kill Pogue.'

'No he isn't. I'm not going to allow it.' I ground out. 'Caleb changed his future so Pogue's future can be changed too.' I promised. I decided not to tell him that I intended on killing the piece of filth. I thought that would be a little too much for Reid to take.

'Let's get out of here before Tyler breaks your nose too, and no, you can't tell him about Collins, I'm still spying on the creep. I need to figure out all the clues before we band together okay?'

Reid nodded but I saw his mind ticking. 'Do you think he suspects something is different with you?'

'No. If he knew what I was I would have seen it already. Stress less, pretty boy. I know what I'm doing.' I said linking my right arm with his.

'You think I'm pretty?' Reid teased.

'Doesn't everyone?' I asked while he snorted softly as he took my hand and we started to walk. Linking my fingers with his, he smiled softly to himself.


	11. Chapter 11

**Eleven**

As Pogue's birthday grew closer and closer, I noticed Mr Riley, attempting to bond with me, wait was that the right word? Ugh, either way I knew his plan was to impregnate me, so his line would continue.

How lame is that? It would be ultimate revenge on my family. It would kill my brothers, knowing I was carrying his kid, not that I was going to. I'd die before letting that monster touch me.

The two visions I had were different but they all resulted the same way. Either he was going to glamour himself to look like Warren, or he was going to pretend to be Reid and he was going to do whatever he had to in order to get me pregnant. What a nightmare. I wish he'd combust into flames and die already.

All I could do was wait, but as Halloween loomed ahead, I grew antsy. Knowing what was going to happen to me was just as bad as what was going to happened to Pogue.

I skipped school on Monday because I knew if I saw him...tomorrow was the day he was going to try to get me pregnant which was stupid cause I'd just started my period. Plus, I knew Ty had some pivotal information he'd been sitting on all weekend.

So here I was hiding in Reid and Ty's dorm. It wasn't until after school that Ty and Reid found me, playing a zombie game, which I was surprisingly good at. 'What are you doing here so early? Did you skip last period?' Typical Ty, the goody two-shoes.

'I skipped the whole day.' I replied with a smirk. 'Besides, you have some info on my parents right?'

'Yeah, I unsealed your records.' Ty said looking guilty as he dropped his bag on the floor which was covered with their clothes. I'd been fighting my female instincts to clean all day.

'Well, hand it over.' I said impatiently snapping my fingers.

'It isn't much, but...well you'll see.' He said sheepishly handing the manila file to me. I looked over the adoption records and found the two names I was looking for. I guess I should have felt something more than the cool detachment, but I didn't.

'Wade Blackthorn and Destiny. Destiny, wait there's no last name.' I said looking up before scanning the paper again with a frown plastered on my face.

'I know and I'm trying to find your father. I even did a few internet searches but nothing really panned out.'

'Did you ever think about asking Warren and his brothers?'

'No.'

I refrained from rolling my eyes. 'Okay, thanks Ty.' I said standing up on my toes as I hugged him hard.

'Jade...'

'I love you. These papers don't mean a thing to me.' I promised bolting from the dorm before he could stop me.

Ten minutes later, I walked into the busy garage and amused myself by staring at Ryan's ass as he was bent over a blue pick up truck. It must be illegal to look that hot while bent over a truck. Even without looking, I knew the other guys working in the shop were watching me check Ryan's ass out, not that I cared.

'Alpha.' He said looking at me from under his arm.

'First off, don't call me that, and second, Ty came through with the adoption records.' I growled, waving the manila folder and it. He stopped what he was doing and stood up.

'Alex is in the office.' Alex, oh right the eldest brother. I walked past the cars, and stopped at the door, as Alex sat talking on the phone. Nodding to the chocolate brown couch, I sat looking around. It was pretty neat. Just to annoy him, I got up, picked a red pen out of the chipped coffee mug a pen, placing it on the pristine white desk. His eyes narrowed the tiniest bit as he picked the pen up replacing it back in the mug. Hmm, so the wolf had a major case of OCD. I was pretty sure he was in the wrong job. I leant on the table, but he only moved back, refusing to meet my eyes. Weird.

'She's here, stop stressing pup.' He said hanging up, eying me. He sniffed a little and I narrowed my eyes. Looking away, he snorted.

'Just checking.'

'Whatever.' I said waving the manila folder under his nose. 'I got my adoption records, well, my brother did.' I said as a thought occured to me. What if they were enemies of my father? Would they try to kill me?

'What's wrong kid?' Alex asked, his blue eyes widened as he scented my fear.

'Um...what if they're your enemies?'

He only shook his head. 'Oh honey, even if you were my stepfathers daughter, we wouldn't care.'

'Oh.' I said feeling slightly releived, showing him the papers. He took the papers and scanned them for a second while I bit my lip.

'Wade Blackthorn is your father?' He asked sounding amazed. He looked at me, really looked at me as I heard footsteps on the concrete behind me.

'Did I just hear correctly? Did you say Wade Blackthorn?' Ryan asked in awe, as he walked into the room.

'Jade's his little girl.' Alex said. I growled lightly not that he noticed.

'Jesus.'

I waved my hand under Alex's face. 'Right here people, and I don't have a clue about who you're talking about.'

'He's famous in our world.' Ryan looked gleeful as he sat down.

'Famous as what?'

'He controls the largest pack in Texas. A damn good wolf too. We'd have gone there but being the stepkids of...well we didn't think we'd be let into his pack.'

'Why would he have adopted me out for if he's so good?' I demanded feeling angry. I didn't care who he was, but I was growing more and more irritated with how these two were feeling. This man who was so good had tossed me away like an old chicken bone. I didn't care about him. The only purpose he served was to tell me what the hell I was.

Ryan snorted and I turned to face him. 'He probably did it to protect you, obviously.'

I wasn't buying it. 'Why?' I bit out trying to keep my cool.

'How am I supposed to know? You want answers, go ask him yourself.' Ryan shot back at me.

'How am I supposed to do that when there is a warlock out for my brother's blood? Not to mention my kid?' I snarled at him shooting him a dark look.

Disgust hit me from two sides. 'Wait, back up did you just say he wants you to have his kid?' Alex snarled narrowing his eyes at me.

'Yes! That's exactly what I'm saying and you don't need the gory details of how he's going to do that. Not that it'll work being the wrong time of my cycle and all.' My face was going green as I spoke and I turned my face away swallowing hard. It turned out disgust quelled the anger that had spiked throughout my body. Huh, so all I had to do to calm down was think of something disgusting? Wish I had known that weeks ago.

'Oh shit,' Alex growled. 'Maybe leaving town is the best thing for you right now.'

'And leave Pogue defenseless?'

'We still have time and what are we, chopped liver?' Ryan asked sounding insulted.

'I need to stay here.' I replied firmly. How could I think about leaving right now?

'You won't be able to do anything, Jade. I know Pogue's a part of your pack but you need to let go. This freak could kill you.'

'I'd die for my family any day.' I growled at him. How dare he tell me what to do. I was the alpha and he was treating me like a pup, heck he was treating me like Warren. A growl exited my throat while Ryan shifted uneasily behind me.

'That's what makes it so hard. Trust us, we know. We left our pack and the ties we had to some of those people were as strong as the bond you have with your brothers.'

'Why did you leave?' I bit out.

'Warren didn't tell you?' Alex asked softly.

'Warren barely tells me anything. Like how we went to Collins house and almost got found out.' I snapped.

'Yeah, our baby brother is being punished for that.' Ryan butted in. 'So when do we fly to Texas?' He asked looking at his brother.

I turned to face him. 'What?'

'Well, you need answers, so we'll talk to your adopted parents first, then you and I are taking a trip to cowboy-ville.' Ryan butted in while Alex raised an eyebrow.

'Why you and not Warren or Alex?' I asked wondering why I had to go with this guy. I already didn't like the guy.

Ryan snorted like it was so obvious but as always, I wasn't . 'You're an unmated female, and Warren's still young and impulsive. He'll fight any wolf challenges him without much provocation. Plus Alex has more alpha in him so you two hanging out too much is kind of a bad idea...unless you want my older brothers babies in the future...'

'Ryan!' Alex exclaimed staring at him in mock horror.

'Just speaking the truth. You know, we really need to tell you everything about being a wolf,' Ryan winked at me as he pointedly looked me up and down.

Luckily for him I wasn't reading too much into his sudden sleazy emotions as I was stuck on the fact that other werewolves would try to claim me. Ugh, I was sixteen for crying out loud. My life was supposed to be about partying and school, and maybe finding a dress for the end of term dance. Instead I was going to be dealing with a bunch of horny werewolves. 'So wait, you males challenge each other for the right to choose a mate?' My voice was harsh, not that Alex noticed or reacted. He looked up at me, probably trying to decide whether to try to calm me down or not. I kind of hoped he would, which would give me the excuse to break his perfectly sculptured nose. I hadn't really noticed it before but these three brothers were absolutely gorgeous. Ugh, I needed to get away from them before my hormones went wild. Yet, I found I was still pissed off and wanted nothing more than to tear these punks limb from limb, mostly because Ryan was _still_ sizing me up.

'Sure, sometimes, mostly we do the human dating thing, but that can get a little boring.' Ryan explained with a wink as he moved closer to me and sat on the desk. We were inches apart and I knew without a doubt he was going to intervene if I attacked his brother but he needen't worry. If I was going to punch one of them, it wouldn't be his older brother.

'Okay so you're my bodyguard, I get it, can we get back to part where I just announce myself to my father and he tells me whatever I need to know?' I asked sarcastically.

Alex sighed and rubbed his eyes. 'Let me sort it out. Ryan why don't you take Jade home while I figure out how to get into contact with Wade?' He asked as he bagan tapping at the computer. Ryan nodded, and walked out. I sent him a glare before I followed after him, refusing to look at the tall guy as he swaggered away.

'Do you always follow his lead?' I growled still feeling agitated.

Ryan lazily shrugged his left shoulder. 'He's the oldest brother and he has more alpha in him.'

'Could he fight me for this territory?' I didn't care that he heard me and his scoff was so clear, I paused mid-step. It looked like my senses were slowly getting stronger.

Ryan's back stiffened. 'He wouldn't dare. You're just a kid, no offense.'

'But I won't be forever.'

'Look, if the territory thing ever becomes an issue, we'd leave and go somewhere else. We're not looking for territory, we just want to live in peace.'

'I think you picked the wrong town.'

He turned and smirked down at me. 'Did we?'

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I didn't enjoy being on the plane. If we'd been meant to fly we'd have been born with wings by now. Ryan didn't seem to mid though. We were flying business class, eating and drinking, well Ryan was drinking a scotch and soda, while I sipped on my Sprite trying not to puke.

Hours later, I woke up just as we landed; I realized I'd been sleeping on Ryan's shoulder not that he seemed to mind. Once I had stumbled from the plane, and walked through the huge airport, I didn't even remember the name, I was so out of it, my breathing quickened and Ryan turned to me.

'You okay?'

'Yeah, I'll be okay.' I muttered pushing his concern aside. Was I anxious about leaving my brother's when Collins was there? Hell yes, was I anxious about meeting my birth parents? Hell to the no. I didn't know these people. They'd adopted me out when I was a newborn and held no place inside my heart.

'Let's just get this over and done with so I can go home.' I muttered stomping after him.

'Alright Alpha.'

'Call me that again and you won't be able to have babies.' I warned shouldering my duffel bag.

'Jeez girls really are horrible to be around when they have PMS,' he muttered to himself. I stopped short wondering how he had known. Ryan sniffed loudly and snorted to himself.

'Are you coming, or will I carry you? You decide, sweetheart.'

Cursing under my breath, I let him lead me inside the ugly ass building that would lead me to my doom.


	12. Chapter 12

**Twelve**

I thought meeting Wade Blackthorn would be difficult, or maybe I'd finally see a bunch of wolves attack Ryan for invading their territory without permission. Turned out, I was wrong on both accounts.

We were barely settled in this five star hotel, mom insisted on paying for, with adjoining rooms of course. She had no concerns about me sneaking into Ryan's bed, dad however, had been harder to convince which is probably why he had theatened to have Ryan's head if I wasn't returned home in pristine condition. I'd been three rooms over and doubled over with laughter. Tyler who had driven home for the "family meeting" had been looking at me as if I was going round the twist. Between gasps and tears, I told him what dad was saying. Tyler finally caught on through my jumbled mess and blushed, before he stalked out, only to go back my dad up.

Lying on his bed, Ryan was sitting propped up with pillows as he watched checked Netflix, looking for something to watch.

'Relax sweetheart, everything is going to be fine.'

'Oh shut it, we're in unknown territory and we're on the clock.' I snapped.

Rolling his eyes, he continued watching the screen while tracking my pacing. 'If you're going to be like that, go back to your own room.'

Just as I was stepping into the bathroom that separated our rooms, the phone in my room rang. I bolted to it. It was probably just mom checking in for the fifth time. Grabbing the cordless phone, I ran and flopped onto my bed, curling up in the middle.

'Mom, I'm fine,' I said not bothering to check who it was.

'I'm glad you're alright,' a gravelly voice said on the other end. I sat bolt upright.

'Who are you?' I blurted. Ryan, dashed into my room, gesturing wildly at me.

'I'm Wade Blackthorn. I hear you've been looking for me, Jade.'

'Yeah...I have questions about my adoption. How did you know I was here?'

'I see, oh I have eyes everywhere,' he said dismissively, 'I'm more worried about the company you're keeping.'

'We can discuss this in person.' I replied shortly.

'How about the Ben's Steakhouse?'

'You want to talk about my adoption in a steakhouse?'

'Sure, it's better than your hotel room. If I entered that place, people would be wondering what I'm doing visiting a teenage girl in a hotel, accompanied by a New Jersey delinquent, there would be some cause of concern. No, it's better if you come and meet me.'

'Oh, right, won't there be other wolves there?'

'Only the ones that know you exist. I assure you there will be no more than four of us.'

'We're still outbumbered.' I mumbled to myself.

'No one would dream of hurting you.'

'Your wife would.' I said remembered what Ryan had let slip. Wade had his own little family and women wolves could be very volatile to their mates if they had other children. I apparently had half siblings. Somehow I found I didn't give a damn about it.

'I assure you Sandra wouldn't dream of hurting you.'

'Yet you haven't told her about me, have you?'

'Of course I have,' he replied smoothly, 'she's been begging me to find you for years.'

'Why didn't you bother?'

'Honey, I already knew where you were.' I bristled at him calling him that name and barely kept myself from snapping at him.

'You knew where I was all along?'

'Jade, I had to keep track of you because I knew you may be like me. Now come along to the steakhouse, I promise you'll get a better feed there than at that hotel.'

I could see why he was an alpha, he might sound pleasant, but there was an edge to his voice, an order if I ever heard it. I bristled at his command.

'I don't think commanding me will get you anywhere.' I retorted as he chuckled.

'You are strongwilled, honey. Come down to the steakhouse in let's say an hour, please.'

'That's better.' I growled. 'We'll be there.' I said hanging up. Ryan sat down next to me.

'That went better than I expected.' Ryan said looking relieved.

I shook my head. 'It's almost too easy.' I muttered.

'What did you expect?'

'I don't know...I want to hate him for giving me away.'

Ryan snorted. 'Hate is a useless emotion. Trust me, I know.' He said looking out of the window. His emotions calmed and I felt a little desperation coming off him. He didn't want to think about something that was distressing him.

'Ry?'

'Yes, JJ?'

'Am I doing the right thing, coming here?'

'Yes, he has answers we need. I know its hard, I wouldn't know, I haven't been adopted, but does it really matter? You have a real family at home sitting by the phone, terrified you're going to leave them. That's a real family and if I'm honest, I'm a little jealous.'

'You are?'

'Warren, didn't tell you much about us, did he?'

'No he's tighter than a whiskey barrel.'

'Our stepfather killed our mother.' I gasped, covering my mouth in shock. It was a good thing I was sitting down. I felt my stomach drop like lead.

'She was going to kill him, you see. Mom had found out _his_ plans to kill us, all accidents of course. He killer her father and He was going to have her kill herself so he could take on a younger mate and have his own kids, since she had complications with Warren and couldnt have another child.'

'Why did your mom marry him?' I asked horrified. ow could she not have known?

'Mom had no choice. She ran off with her lover when she was a teen and came back ten years later with three sons. All of them were alpha's and could easily be groomed to be the next leader. Drake, well he decided to keep mom close make her fall in love with him. Whoever raised us, had power and would rise in rank.'

'How could everyone have missed it?' I demanded. Werewolves were supposed to be superior beings. It didn't make sense to me.

He snorted. 'Anyone who did, disappeared.'

'But your mom...'

'Wore her heart on her sleeve, she didn't see who he was until the end. Actually, you remind me of her. I don't want you to be blindsided by this man. He may be your biological father, but he doesn't own you. If he asks you to take your place in his pack, well it's your decision, but...'

'This isn't my pack or my home. No one can make me do anything I don't want to do.'

'What he did on the phone, is nothing. He was testing to see if you had any alpha traits and now he knows you do, a weaker wolf would have submitted. If his children don't have any alpha in them, you'll be next in line.'

'I don't want it. I don't want any of it.' I growled in a rush. Ryan nodded.

'I know that, but the others may think I'm talking you into it.'

'Oh, right. I didn't think of that. So we get the answers we want and we leave?'

'Not so fast, we'll dine with him, it's only polite. Then we'll get the answers and only when he dismisses us, we will leave.'

'What if he doesn't?'

'Hmm, it could be a test. If he tests me, he'll be disappointed, I won't fight him or any of the others unless its to protect you. You however, you might be able to give him a run for his money.' Quiet resolution hummed though his body and I realised he was trusting me to get him through this. I hadn't realized how on edge he was being here but I could sense it now. He was anxious, and pissed that he was anxious. I blocked him out, focusing on myself.

'I'm going to go shower, no peeking.' I teased in an attempt to break him out of his thoughts. He only looked at me with mock horror which had me giggling.

'Wouldn't dream about it, jail bait.'

Grabbing clean clothes, I rushed into the bathroom and shut the door. Breathing in, I sighed. I could do this.

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Ben's Steakhouse was bustling with activity when we arrived. Most of the noise was coming from the family section in the far left corner. The cabin styled restaurant was warm and inviting, there were paintings of lanscape hung on the walls, which looked like they may have been done by a local artist and the smell of the food was mouthwatering but the second my mind began wandering, I saw a wolf, I don't really know how I knew who he was, but I knew. Standing at six-three feet, a tall mid-twenties, wiry looking guy with dirty stringy blond hair that fell to his shoulders, his clothes were similar to Ryan's; a light grey t-shirt and faded jeans. He beckoned to us as I steeled myself.

A server started to walked towards us but the man intercepted us. 'They're with me honey,' he said quietly with a happy grin. The blonde girl who was barely older than me, nodded and grinned up at him. I could sense her attraction to the older guy. Taking Ryan's hand, I pulled him through the busy restuarant. The wolf noticed this, seeing Ryan's confusion at me touching him, frowned a little but otherwise said nothing. He led the way down a short hallway into a private dining room, probably used for private parties. Sitting around a round stained table were three other men. It was clear who Wade was, I saw myself in him the second our hazel eyes met. It was unnerving but I refused to let our similarites distract me. I stood near the end, looking around the well lit room. Ryan still hadn't taken his hand from mine. Wade narrowed his eyes. I was content in letting Wade think the worst for a few seconds before I dragged a chair out, let go of Ryan's hand and sat down. Ryan however hovered behind me.

Cocking his head, Wade looked at me, watching, waiting. I could have stared him down, in fact a huge part of me was screaming to stare him down but I resisted.

'You look a lot like your mother, but you have my eyes.'

'And who is she again? My birth certificate said her name was Destiny.' I replied scornfully.

Wade chuckled. 'That's all I knew her as.'

My tiny amount of hope plummeted straight to the floor. 'Well, that's just great.'

'What's with the bodyguard?' The man that had led us in here asked.

'I'm not here to talk about the Frey's. I want to know who my mother is. Do that and I'll leave. You won't ever have to speak to me again.'

Wade sighed shaking his head looking sad. 'It's a long story.'

'Cliff-notes version then. We need to be gone by tomorrow morning.' I replied hotly.

'Why so soon?'

'I have school.' I pointed out.

'Why not come on the weekend?'

'I need to know now. Things are happening to me, things that aren't wolf-like.'

That got his attention. Sitting straight like a poker, he stared at me.

'What things?'

'I don't smell emotions like you, instead I'm an empath. When I was thirteen, one of my friends was being psysically abused by her stepfather and one day he snapped and attacked her right in front of my friend and I. He hit me and I lost unconsciousness but when I woke up I went after him and when I touched his face, something strange happened...' I trailed off taking a deep breath.

'He started screaming didn't he?' Wade asked quietly.

I jerked and nodded.

Wade scrubbed his face with his hands staring at me in disbelief. 'When you were born there was no hint of wolf in you. Your mother warned me you might be completely human or like her. I gave you up because if you had stayed, any potential mate of mine could have made life hell for you. I wanted to spare you that pain.'

'I don't care about the adoption. I have a good family who loves me as fiercely as I love them. What was my biological mother?' I asked in a tight voice.

Wade drew in a deep breath. 'Your mother was a Fury.'

I was completly stumped but I could see Ryan's eyes lighting up like a beacon. 'A-a what?'

'Destiny is a demi-goddess who punishes the wicked, they can make their victims relive their worst memories and feelings. In a way they are empaths or telepathic and can sense ill will, and feel the need to protect women who have been harmed. Like the law stated, there were three Furies at the start but even though they punished men, they would entice virgin men they deemed good people and well... you can guess the rest.'

'Why did Destiny choose you?' I asked out. So far from I sensed from him was a calm male, and annoyingly, I knew I could trust him.

'I'm not entirely sure. Your mother said my aura was bright.I assumed she was just grateful for me seeing as I had saved her from a vampire. Although to be honest, I would have killed him anyway. From the second I saw her, I was in love with her.'

I snorted. 'I wonder what she thought of you adopting me out.'

Wade's eyes saddened. 'If your mother hasn't shown herself to you when you first used your abilities, then she must be dead. As you age, your powers will only grow and it takes a while to get a handle on them and not attack every male who thinks bad thoughts.'

'I think Jade's wolf side is helping her with that.' Ryan supplied.

I shook my head. 'I attacked a female who attacked my friend.' I pointed out. I didn't need to remind him that I had attacked those men at the bar.

Wade stared at me. 'Is this friendof yours a part of your pack?'

'Yes.'

'Anyone who harms your pack is in danger. Now I know you are a wolf too, I'm glad you have the Frey's to help you, although why they moved to Ipswhich remains a mystery.'

'That's a lie and you know it.' I bit out.

'I was just testing you, cub.' He replied with a smile.

'As it is, I did do my own investigation into your mother's death. Of it wasn't hard to figure out why you all left when Drake became alpha.'

Ryan nodded mutely. 'It was either kill him and those loyal to him, or run. Alex decided to leave.'

He nodded looking at me. 'You're all Alpha's are you not? Why not take him down?'

'And divide the pack in two? The war would be bloody and countless lives would be lost.'

'Vanessa should have walked away from that car crash. There is no way in hell they would have believed Drake's excuses if you three had manned up and taken your place.' His disappointement would have made a lesser man squirm but Ryan stood firm.

'Look, Alex could have been alpha, hell we all could be, but we were already competing with each other when our mother was murdered. Her brake pads were replaced. A cop that was friends with Alex did a secondary investigation. If he hadn't, we wouldn't have known the truth because Alex and I were too busy training to be next.'

'And you would not be here to teach my daughter about the ways of the wolf.' Wade nodded thoughtfully before looking at me. 'Have you phased yet?'

'No, but my senses are getting stronger.'

He nodded. 'I've heard stories of some wolves that didn't phase until they were eighteen. I wouldn't worry if I were you. It can be quite the jarring experience.'

'Can we wrap this up?' I asked not caring that I was being rude.

'Jade.' Ryan warned. I glared at him and he glared back until I steeled myself. He blinked and looked away.

Wade smirked to himself. 'I wonder how much of an alpha are you?'

'She's already stronger than Alex.' Ryan stated as I kicked a chair out for him and he finally sat down beside me.

Wade looked at me. 'You are aware that the more time you spend with alpha's...'

'Yeah one of them could become my baby daddy. Duh.' The other wolves looked horrified that I was being sarcastic to their alpha and Ryan shot me a dark look but Wade only chuckled.

'The youngest, Warren is your age is he not?'

'Two years older.' Ryan replied rather stiffly.

'That is why they all aren't here.' Wade replied.

I shrugged. 'Alex is limiting his time spent with me and Warren likes me.'

Wade nodded. 'How could he not?' He asked cocking his head to look at me. I grew uncomfortable and I leant onto the table staring at him. When he hardened his gaze, I followed suit and we glared at each other until finally, just when I thought I couldn't hold it anymore, he blinked and looked away. The room was filled with their stunned emotions but all I felt from Wade, was his pride and acceptance.

He nodded. 'Your mother was the same. She was the only one I couldn't stare down. The fury in you will never allow you to bow down to anyone.'

'Oh.' I said, my gaze shifted to my lap.

'I won't annoy you by suggesting you come back and join my pack, but maybe once you have officially phased and taken your place as a true Alpha, maybe we could have an alliance.'

'That means telling the pack about her.' A man on Wade's left side muttered.

'I'm well aware of what will transpire when I announce my first born daughter to our world.' He replied with a slight growl in his tone.

I sighed. 'You assume I will accept.' I stated folding my arms. 'I haven't decided whether I want a pack of my own. I don't know how to feel about any of this.'

Wade nodded. 'Leo, please go tell Triss we would like dinner to be served now.' Leo got up, giving me a smile and walked out.

I started to stand but he waved his hand. 'I can smell your hunger, Jade. Please, sit down and have some dinner. You will love the ribs.'

'I'm a vegetarian.' I replied flatly.

He laughed as did the others, breaking the tension. 'No wolf has ever been a vegetarian.' He chortled wiping stray tears away from him hands.

Ryan took my hand distracting me. 'You're a little emotional.'

'I can't help it.'

Wade's humorous emotions sobered. 'You'll be fine, you just need to eat.'

I glared at him.

'When was the last time you ate?'

'This morning.' I mumbled.

'Exactly. Wolves get crabby when they don't eat regularly.' Ryan reminded me with a poke under my ribs. 'Just cause Aunt Flow has arrived doesn't mean you get to skip meals.' He joked. The other guys rolled their eyes and I shook my head in annoyance while Wade chuckled to himself. Letting an annoyed sigh, I leant back into my chair glaring at the floor. I didn't have time to eat. I wanted to go home. But despite my irritation, I stayed and boy did I ever have the best meal in my entire life. After we were finished, we said a hurried goodbye and left. I was quiet on the ride back to the hotel and Ryan thankfully didn't try to pursuade me to talk. two hours later, we were sitting first class in a plane and I fell asleep only waking once we landed.


	13. Chapter 13

**Thirteen**

It was after nine by the time we got home. Was I surprised to see the boys ditching curfew to see me? Nope. Caleb trotted out of the front door before the car had pulled to a stop. Tugging me out of the car as if he hadn't seen me in months, he pulled me into a tight hug. I couldn't help but bury myself face into his warm chest. His scent calmed me immediately, not that I was freaking out or anything. Okay, okay, I was a little but I had a good reason to. I was half demi-god or something. It was a lot to take in but I wasn't trying to be too emo about it.

'How are you?'

'I'm okay,' I replied although my voice came out a little muffled.

'Are you sure?'

'Eh,' I said ending the hug and going to hug my parents; it was a good thing I had blocked out their emotions. I was pretty sure they were worried as hell.

Finally Caleb let m go and I walked into our house and sat down on he couch on one of the remaining spots. I was biting my lip as Pogue grabbed onto my hand squeezing it. I squeezed back until he winced. I sirked a little while he glowered at me.

'So?' Tyler asked impatiently.

I whipped around to face my brother who was definitely as anxious as my parents were. 'Well...it turns out I'm a Fury, well half and that's why my abilities are slightly different from a normal wolf.' I admitted looking aroun the room. Although my mom gasped a little, I didn't get much of a reaction but Reid's emotions were the strongest; he looked extremely smug.

'What?' I asked glancing around the room.

'Pay up.' He said turning to Pogue who shot him a filthy look, snatched his wallet out of his back pocket, tossing him some cash.

Caleb smirked a little and wrapped an arm around my shoulders pulling me to him.

'So what does this mean?'

'I'm unique in every sense of the word. My wolf senses and fury abilities will probably be at war with each other until I mature. So if I see someone harming my pack, I'm going to to be doubly motivated in protecting them, especially if the target is male.'

'Isn't there a fury to teach you?'

I shook my head. 'Furies can sense one another. If my biological mother was alive, she would be here to teach me. I don't even know if I want the others to know I exist. Just having the Texas pack know I exist could be dangerous.'

'I doubt it,' Ryan said scratching his chin thoughtfully. 'You're twice as powerful as any of them and with the three of us, as well as the coven at your back, you're probably the most powerful wolf in the world. You might not know it but my pack and your pack are living in peace. Supernatural beings usually stay with their own breed so to speak. No one is going to mess with you, girlie.'

'Except Chase, the bastard.'

'Jade!' Mum gasped while I rolled my eyes.

'Sorry, I just, I can't wait until this is all over. Night.' I said getting up.

'Jade?'

'Yeah?' I asked rubbing my eyes.

'This doesn't change anything you know,' mom said looking upset.

'Actually it does, it changes everything.' I replied, disappearing before I blurted out my plans to kill Chase. No one else had figured out what I had. I was a fury, if the lore was correct, I was the perfect being to take on Chase. I just hoped none of them figured out my plans.

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Arriving at school the next day, I found Charlie resting her back on my locker, resting one foot on the door as she scrolled through her phone.

'Hey girl, did ya phone die on you?'

'Pretty much, had severe cramps in the morning so mum let me stay home,' I said reciting the lie I had practiced.

'For two days?'

'Okay, Monday was a mental health day.' I replied nudging her out of my way so I could open my locker door. Shoving my backpack inside it, I wondered how I could even be here when everything inside of me wanted to find that pathetic sociopath and end him. The things I had dreamt about to happen, and I couldn't survive another class with him.

'Is everything okay? You've been pretty distant lately. Did I do something wrong?' Charlie asked as I felt her uncertainty.

'No, you've been a really good friend to me.' I said as Warren passed by, nodded in my direction and walked off.

'Something happen between you two? You seemed pretty chummy for a while.' Charlie commented as she twirled her fingers through her mint shaded hair.

'Nope, I'm pretty sure I'm done with dating for a bit, well at least until my grades go back up. Apparently I'm not doing good enough.' I replied with a fake wince and an eyeroll as I shut the door.

'Ah no dating until you get to a B+ in everything? Lame.' Charlie replied sympathetically, linking her arms with mine. I let her pull me to her locker, I barely noticed as a body brushed up against me but when I breathed in scenting Matt, my anger spiked.

'Hey babe...' He whispered leaning down, his lips had barely grazed the back of my neck when I whirled around kneeing him sharply in the groin. Shoving him to the ground, I stalked the creep as he struggled to stand up.

'Freak!' He spat as I lashed out a punch he barely blocked.

'Jade, stop it.' Charlie hissed as she rushed to my side. 'He's not worth it, come on.' She coaxed taking my hand and pulled me away. Once we'd turned the corner, with Charlie still leading me away, I was able to focus better, and ignore the voice in my head that wanted me to finish him off.

'Do we go up to guys and harass them like that?' I vented, clenching my fists.

'We're not tall enough to kiss their necks.' Charlie replied lightly, trying to make light of the situation.

'Charlie...' I growled, lightly. Shrugging, she grinned at me mischieviously

'What? We aren't, but you're right. Women aren't that aggressive, and it's not like he really wants you, he's just bored and wants to cause problems between us.'

Jake appeared with Tim in tow. 'Gee where's the fire?'

'Matt tried to make another pass at Jade, but she kicked his ass,' Charlie trilled rubbing my arm with her other hand. It was amazing that what she was doing was helping me calm down or at least distracting me.

'Well, what he did can be called sexual harrassment.' I muttered while Tim's and Jake's eyes blazed.

'Looks like we're going to have to have another little chat with him.' They muttered to each other.

'No, don't, I don't want you both getting into trouble.' Charlie butted in but both boys gave her an incredulous look and wandered off. I caught Charlie gazing at Jake's ass thoughtfully before she sighed and shook her head, her eyes grew sad. I knew without using my empathy she was still developing a huge crush on Jake and it was paining her to admit it to herself. Too bad he was as dense as a chalkboard.

There was nothing worse than falling for a guy, who was oblivious and waiting for him to catch on was the equivalent of running in slow motion.

Without noticing it, I had grown calm. I didn't know how but all my anxiety had vanished without a trace. Charlie was still holding onto me and I wriggled out of her grip and wrapped my arm around her lower back. It was my turn to comfort her. Glancing at me from the corner of her eyes. she sniffed delicately.

'Yeah, I'm still not over him.'

'Didn't need to use my empathy to see that. Come on, let's get some food. A grilled bacon and cheese is calling to me.'

'Do you ever stop eating?'

'Nope,' I replied with a smirk. Before she could say no, I was leading her away.

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By Thursday night I was a nervous wreck. One of the brothers, I suspected it was Alex who was sitting on the couch sipping a beer with Wayne looking innocent, had tipped Caleb off about Collins wish to get me pregnant just in case his plans didn't succeed. So instead of being home and facing this prick alone and killing him before he got a chance to kill Pogue, I was sitting with Pogue's family, under the watchful eye of my three uncles, and my brothers' as well, with Alex as backup, while Caleb assumed my form and acted like bait.

It was hard to tell which part of me hated the idea more; the fury or the wolf. All I knew someone I loved was placing himself in danger and Caleb was probably the only strong enough besides me that could end him. If Caleb died tonight...

Sensing my despair, Alex got up and placed his warm hand on my shoulder. A sudden irrational surge of jealousy hit me and I looked blankly at Reid who looked away, embarrassed. Everyone had their own ideas as to why Collins had chosen to mimic Reid's body; and Tyler was shooting daggers at him. I was sure if it wasn't for them trying to keep me from fury-ing out, lol, had I just made up a new word? Wait, what was I thinking? Oh right, if my brothers' weren't so busy trying to keep me calm, Tyler probably would have decked Reid by now.

Suddenly, I was reminded a wolf was behind me and touching me without consent. 'It's going to be okay. Caleb's already fought him once.' Alex replied in a soothing voice. Shrugging his hand off, I let out a snarl.

'It's not his fight,' I growled angling my body so I could glare up at him.

'Easy wolfie,' Pogue soothed, 'It's going to be okay.'

'You don't know that. I don't know that. If Caleb shows himself, it's game over. Collin's will know we've figured him out somehow. He could go after our parents next. Our mothers', our friends and I can't see his plans unless I'm asleep. I should be finishing him off now, not Caleb.' I spat shaking with both anxiety and rage.

'You saw Collins didn't succeed with his mission to...you know,' he muttered looking disgusted as well as pale, 'maybe this is why.'

I shook my head shooting Alex a dark look. If he hadn't meddled, it would be me standing in the treehouse. Of course he'd figured out my plans before I had left which is why he'd been the first to send me away so I couldn't stop him blabbing to my family. I really wanted to punch him right now. Taking a step back, he held his hands up in surrender.

'I had to protect you.' He said refusing to apologize as I began to stalk him.

'I can't get pregnant right now. I'm not in my fertile cycle,' I spat at him rounding on him as if he were my enemy and right now, he was. My brother tittered to himself.

'That's not what I meant. Imagine if he did rape you, what would that do to you? You're not just a werewolf, you're a fury too and we don't even know very much about furies seeing as we can't ask one. If you succeeded in killing Collins, you might not stop with him. You might start killing human men who harm women. Do you really want to do that? When my step father killed my mom, I wanted him dead, heck I was planning on killing him myself, but what would that mean for Ryan and Warren?'

'At least you'd have justice and control of a pack.'

'A pack who chose to blindly follow an alpha with no blood ties. The others could have called for a secondary investigation into our mother's deaths but they accepted the lies. Only my evidence, is keeping the pack from falling apart.'

'I'd go back and shove their disloyalty into their faces. They should have backed you. That's what family does.' I whispered at him. Nodding, Alex looked sad.

'It's too late now.'

'No it isn't.'

'My father knows the truth; and guess what you have me. If I am apart of my father's pack, you will have a powerful ally. Your pack would bow down, accept the evidence and you will be the true alpha.'

Alex stared at me in stunned silence. 'You'd do that for me, why?'

I pondered for a few moments before staring into his confused eyes. I realised with a start he had effectively calmed my raging heart by changing the subject. _Smart move, mutt_ , I thought. 'Your mother deserves justice, and being Alpha is your birthright. Stop running from it and accept it.' Wayne walked over and placed his large hand on my shoulder squeezing not so gently.

'You should take your own advice kiddo.'

'Yeah...' I trailed off walking off and wandered into the kitchen. Footsteps trailed after me and I heard someone grumble after Reid who either didn't hear or he was ignoring him.

 _Not now_ , I thought grimly to myself as I walked outside and shut the door. From here, Alex could still hear me and I was ignoring his grumbles at me going outside.

'Save it, I'm not going anywhere.' I muttered as I took a sip. The sliding door shut behind me and I didn't bother to look at Reid, who pulled out the chair to my left and threw himself in it.

'We need to talk.'

'Uh...do we?' I teased poking him on the arm, like he usually did to me. He didn't even poke me back or smack me on the back of the head. In fact, I'd noticed he barely touched me these days. What was going on with him? I searched his emotions and found nothing that could help me puzzle him out.

'So you never crushed on me? Cause I'm done fighting with Ty over this,' Reid suddenly blurted out as his pale face turned red.

'Wait, did Ty think we had a secret thing going on?' I asked making a face.

'Yeah...' Reid trailed off.

'Ew. I can't date my brother. Ick.' I said gagging on him.

'Jesus, don't do that around me!' He crowed, shoving me away while I burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

'Seriously Reid, you didn't feel anything but jealousy out of pettiness. It's not hard to figure out why.' I said sobering up. 'You crave love.'

'Do not, shut up brat,' he replied looking as horrified as he felt.

'It's true so stop beating yourself up about this Collins thing. If you felt attracted to me, we'd both know by now.' I replied tapping his forehead.

'I love you, and you love me, as a brother. Nothing else and if Tyler thinks otherwise, he's a moron.'

'Noted,' Reid replied sounding relieved, as he shivered in the cold. Deciding to take the delicate warlock back inside, I pulled him into the house, marched back into the lounge room and stared into my brother's eyes.

'Just to clear everything up. There's absolutely nothing going on between Reid and I so stop acting like a little bitch. Now that's sorted, I need to go for a run.'

'Ha, good try. You're not going to back Caleb up.' Pogue grunted trapping me with his legs and pulled me to his lap.

'Drat. Well. That plan is foiled.' I grumbled while mine and Alex's senses alerted us to the fact magic was being used. Instantly, I'd tore out of my brother's arms and was racing to the door, with Alex right behind me. Flinging the door open, I saw Caleb walking to the steps. Walking out, Alex placed a warning hand on my shoulder.

Opening my senses, I recognized my brother and flung myself at him. He caught me just before I crashed into him and he held me tight.

'He didn't come.'

'What? Last night I dreamt it was tonight.'

'I don't know what to tell you. He must have known we switched places. Or he's doing something else equally bad.' I confirmed with a glance. His mom, and him and Pogue's girlfriends were being protected by Ryan and Warren, but what could they really do against a warlock? I bit my lip until it bled.

'Hey now, everything is going to be okay.' I didn't have the heart to say I didn't believe him. I just hung in his arms holding him so tight as if he were a lifeline. Squeezing me back, he carried me into the house and Alex shut the door.

'What now?' Reid asked. Pogue looked at the floor.

'We let him attack, and then we kill him.' I whispered.

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Leaves rustled against the window and in the dead of night when everything was supposed to be silent and calm, my heart raced ahead as I faked sleep. I'd heard him enter the treehouse and was standing in my living area and just like in my dream, I turned to look at the alarm clock which read four-thirty. Last nights dream had either been wrong or he'd been delayed. All I knew he was here and this was happening. Revulsion filled my body as the door handle started to turn. Silently, I got out of bed, strode to the corner of the door, grabbed the metal baseball bat and just as the door opened, I kicked the door in on itself letting out a blood curdling shriek, so highpitched and full of undialuted rage, unlike my own it scared me. Startled, Chase stumbled back in shock. I didn't give him a moment, I hit him with the bat swinging as hard as possible, his eyes flashed black and he was super fast, snatching the bat while the wolf in me snarled so loudly he stared at me for a moment, shocked.

'What are you?' He asked finally. Across the room, the glass cabinet was showing two dark figures; one had gold glowing eyes. As I leant forwards, the eyes moved. I smirked. Either my wolf side was maturing or Furies eyes glow gold when angry.

'You really think you can impregnate me, warlock? Bad move.' I snarled lashing out a punch, breaking his nose. He stumbled, fell over the couch and crashed into the coffee table. Before he was up, I was on top of him lashing out punching. I managed to grab the sides of his head, making him groan as my powers started to take hold, but while he was grunting fighting whatever images my powers were conjuring, a wave of energy hit me and I was flying into the wall. I didn't just hit the wall; I went through it. Pain like I hadn't ever felt tore through my body as I was blasted out of my treehouse with a bang so loud it could wake the dead.

I saw the starry night as I flew backwards, through the branches that scratched me. In what felt like twenty seconds, but was only three seconds, the asshole had blown a massive hole into my beloved house and now I was landing on the frozen, wet earth. Wind rushed out of me as I lay dazed and winded, bleeding, my stomach and back searing in pain, but I didn't care to find out why because Collins stumbled out of the treehouse walking towards me.

'Anyone else would be dead.' He commented looking down at my stomach. Looking down, I saw a piece of pipe sticking out of my stomach. Feeling behind my back, I felt blood and with shaking hands I gasped. Reaching down, I realized what he was about to do, I whipped my legs up, kicking the monster in the chest sending him ten feet away. Getting to my feet, I counted to two and yanked the rod out of my body, screaming so shrilly, there's no way my parents couldn't have heard it. Dropping the rod, I stood up, ignoring the flowing tears, the sweat that poured down my body and turned towards the monster who was bearing down on me.

'JADE!' A woman I sort of recognized screamed to my left. I saw a flash of wild red hair before it disappeared behind a tree, but thanks to the pain, all I was thinking about was attacking the monster who was trying to kill me. My body acted on its own, rushing as the attacker but before we could collide, my body imploded, what felt like a flash of light and searing pain enveloped my body, making the stab wound moot, we collided and fell to the damp earth. Before the light in my eyes faded, I sensed my prey and bit down; hard. The scream, was so much louder than normal. I could hear the different notes, the high piercing high notes as well as a constant baritone drawl as my prey started to curse. The bitter, metallic blood that repelled me so much I bit harder, making the scream erupt, piercing my delicate ears. A sudden kick to my abdomen had me falling back and I landed on my back only to roll over, getting to my feet snarling. Something didn't feel right, the height for one. I was shorter...discarding the thought, I ran head on with my prey, satisfied that I had ripped out his shoulder and pierced his neck as well as his jugular vein. Blood poured out in pulses. I knew he could heal himself so I attacked, aiming for his throat. He was screaming while I clamped down on his throat shaking him like a ragdoll as soon as we landed, only to throw him straight into the tree.

'JADE!' My dad screamed at me in shock as I stared up at the extremely tall man. I couldn't understand why he was so tall until he went to touch me. A feral snarl erupted out of my mouth, shocking the both of us.

'Jade, baby it's me. It's your daddy. Come on girl, you know me.' He whispered kneeling down to face me. He was lower than me now and I sniffed at him. Okay, his musky scent was stronger now and I could see the fear written on his face. Whether he was scared of me, or for me, I couldn't tell but when he reached out for me, without thinking, I snarled, stepping out of reach. I sniffed deeper and caught a whiff of the magic in his veins instantly repelled by it.

'Jadey, you know I won't hurt you.'

I knew that, but apparently my wolf side didn't. Letting out a howl of sorrow, I turned and bolted for the trees.

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I ran until dawn. Where I was headed, I had no idea. But once I spied dawn peeking over a ridge I stopped to a slow slope. I'd thought my human senses were sharper, but this, seeing the little bits of dew fall off the leaves catching the light, dazzling me, the scent of the hundreds types of flowers that tickled my nose awfully; the sounds of the mice, chipmunks and squirrels and the birds twittering their chirpy morning songs, was so unerving but very cool. I took a moment to absorb it all before I headed down the rise and stepped to a crystal clear stream that gurgled. I watched the little fishes dart around before something caught my reflection. I stared and stared.

A very tall and slender silver wolf stared back at me. I was tall, maybe even taller than Alex's wolf; what colour was he anyway? I was pretty sure I was prettiest wolf I have ever set eyes on. The fur on my legs was pure white and it wasn't until I got past my elbows that the fur darked slightly. My entire back and hindquarters, or what I could see was the same darker silver and the only black I saw was my black tipped ears, the light silver stripe down my nose, and my long, long sparkling pearly whites. Humans would kill to have my pearly whites which practically sparkled in the light. Then I looked at my perfectly light golden eyes rimmed in a perfect black line that resembled eyelines. The air to the south reminded me that I must be pretty far from hom and I looked south, my body already ready to set off. Looking back at the my reflection; I stared at the light silver wolf with the golden eyes and sighed softly to myself.

Birds to my right squawed in alarm as I heard the skidding sounds of near silent footsteps, catching their scent on the wind, I paused holding one paw in midair as three wolves I recognised skidded to a stop, looking down at me from the top of te rise.

A snowy wolf, a grey one with a darker white underbelly and a rich chocolate coloured wolf stared at me in shock. The snowy, the biggest wolf walked down with his ice-blue eyes and sniffed at me.

What was I supposed to do? My wolf side reacted before I could stop it and it snarled a little. Alex stopped but I felt a pressure in my head. Shaking my head, I snorted staring at him.

'What?' I asked but all that came out of my mouth was a yip. The pressure stopped but it came back stronger.

 _Stop it!_ I demanded shaking my head. What the hell were they trying to do?

 _Jade?_ It came as a whisper, but I zeroed in on in Alex while I whimpered in surprise.

 _What? Did you just talk to me?_

 _Hey girl, you scared us for a minute,_ Ryan commented as he bullied himself past Warren who was picking his way down the slope, still staring at me.

 _You never said we're freaking telepaths!_

 _It's a pack secret; sorry,_ Alex replied not sounding sorry at all. Warren bullied his brother and was the first to reach me. He sniffed me and I was surprised my wolf body didn't attack, instead she was still, waiting.

 _You're beautiful,_ Warren whispered into my mind like a caress.

 _Easy wolf, we don't want her to attack,_ Alex warned as he stood five feet away with Ryan.

 _I don't have any control_ , I admitted dipping my head in shame.

 _I know, you won't for a while. Learning to be a wolf as well as being able to control the body while thinking in human form is one of the toughest things we learn_. Alex replied.

 _How do I control this body?_

 _You won't be able to for a while, your wolf body is reacting to your emotions like she always has been and will decide what is best to keep you safe. One day, you will become one, until then, let the body guide you._ Ryan instructed as he stepped closer.

A light snarl had him freezing in place. _I-I didn't think it would be, I could hurt you..._

 _You won't hurt us if you don't really want to._

 _I killed Collins this morning._

 _No you didn't, you almost killed him. Bastard saved himself before your father could finish him off,_ Alex growled.

 _What? No, I let him live?_ I demanded angrily, snarling so loudly Warren stepped back. _We have to go back! I have to kill him before he hurts Pogue_! I tore up the hill, brushing Alex and Ryan's fur as I darted between the gap of their bodies and they followed me.

 _She said 'we',_ Ryan mused after me as he raced behind me. _Gee, slow down, will you?_


	14. Chapter 14

**Fourteen**

Mist was covering the grounds as I stalked through Pogue's estate. My paws picked their way through the crunchy grass barely making a noise, as I slipped through the trees which looked more threatening and sinister. I clung to the shadows, knowing my silver fur wasn't great camoflague. I heard the wolves behind me spacing out as I had ordered, just in case Chase got away again. This was my territory after all and the wolf inside me dared them to put a paw wrong, just so I could chase them from my territory; fortunately for them now was not the time.

I'd spent the whole day learning how to be a wolf, it wasn't easy running on all fours, my instincts were heightened crazily and I had three bothers chattering me the whole time. Finally I'd told them to shut it and headed the rest of the way home. I'd stayed a wolf the entire day and I had no need to become human again. I could live as a wolf for as long as I wanted. The familiar urge to run tickled in the back of my mind until the unbearable sour scent of magic erupted into my nose setting it aflame. I sneezed quietly. Luckily, I was still so far away no one could have heard me. The large tree swing to my right creaked eerily in the night and I paused, looking through the branches, watching my brother walk into the circular clearing we'd played in as kids. He stopped and I swallowed hard.

Pogue was exactly standing where I had dreamt. Chase appeared like a ghost. The hairs on the back of my neck raised and I let out a growl, unable to stop myself.

'You know what I want.'

'I do, good luck getting it,' Pogue replied angrily just as Chase laughed coldly and threw an energy ball at Pogue who dodged it and rolled like a martial artist. Quick on his feet, he threw an energy ball back. It was easy to see Chase was just toying with my brother. He didn't want to kill him, not yet anyway. Ignoring the disgusting sour scent of their magic, I let out a barely audible snarl. The growing need to protect my brother grew until it was an uncomfortable prescence in my head.

 _Easy there Jade, remember your vision,_ Alex whispered in my mind.

 _That's easy for you to say, it's not your brother out there,_ I growled back, wincing as Pogue was hit with a ball of fire. He fell teen feet, his clothes smouldered leaving his chest and abdomen red and inflamed. After a minute of them destroying the grounds, not to mention the ancient trees, which was pissing me off to no end, Pogue levitated into the air, thunder boomed from clouds that were conjured out of what seemed nowhere, rain fell from the heavens, and my brother started to scream as energy started to pulse into his body like electricity. His screams became unbearable as Chase threw more energy balls at him. Lightning flashed and hit Pogue. I yipped, shaking the rain from my fur as my brother fell to the ground, his body had sort of vanished before my eyes only to reappear again but he was kneeling on the ground looking as if he'd been hit by a truck. Seconds later, he remembered Chase and round two begun. This time the fight was more savage, Pogue wasn't messing around now as they threw energy balls at one another, mostly missing each other which resulted in the grounds into a muddy mess, while they were flying through the air.

I don't know how but I didn't second guess it when my wolf body slipped from the trees, my body tensed with anticipation. I was watching Chase now, I was already super fast, and I could attack him in less than three seconds; all I needed was for him to turn his back on me.

Getting behind Pogue, he kicked his legs out from under him clenching his fists. Pogue's hands went to his throat as he started to choke, his eyes widening in fear.

'Give me your power, or I'll kill them all.' Collins growled harshly.

'No.' Pogue gasped. Punching him in the side of the head, my brother fell to the ground gasping. Throwing an energy ball at him, Collins flew twenty feet, right into my path. I didn't hesitate, just ran in and bit down on his shoulder, shaking him like a ragdoll, relishing the sound of him screaming until a sharp stabbing pain hit me in the rib, I gasped as a different scent of blood erupted into my nose. Letting go of my prey turned out to be my worse mistake, a second later, impact on my jaw and side of the chest sent my flying into a tree while Pogue screamed out my name, half a second later, everything went dark.

I wasn't sure what was happening, but I was soaked to the skin, not that the freezing rain and wind had any effect, but still, why was I outside? Shaking my head, I blinked, opening my eyes and found myself lying naked in the mud, my back against a tree which looked about to topple over at any second. The sounds of fighting to my left had me involuntarily flinching as I spied Pogue getting beaten by Chase. I realised with a start that being a wolf wouldn't be enough to kill Chase. I had to awaken the part of me that scared the life out of me, the aprt of me I couldn't control. I stood up, wincing slightly as I looked at my side, expecting searing pain and blood, only to find the skin had stitched together in a very new scar that threatened to rip open with every minute movement.

Pogue didn't look any better. Covered in his own blood and holding onto his broken ribs, my brother crouched on the ground, gasping and choking on his own blood.

'It didn't have to be this way.' Collins said telekinetically summoning the knife that had my blood on it still. Stabbing Pogue in the shoulder, I screamed in rage as Pogue cried out in agony. Chase turned, looking at me, his eyes flashed but whatever he tried didn't work. Amazed, he grinned at me. I couldn't tell whether it was my naked body or my power that he was interested in. I decided it was both, not that it mattered. The parasite was never getting his hands on my power.

He turned back to Pogue, grabbed his hair and yanked his head up as he he bent down. 'Your families will pay for this, even your sweet little sister, whatever she is.' Collins sneered, sending chills down my spine.

'No...leave her alone.' Pogue begged.

Collins smirked. 'I don't think I will. She's a fine looking girl, her power, I will add it to my collection.'

Pogue reached for the knife and tried to yank it out, but Collins was too quick for him. 'Don't, please she's innocent.'

'So was I.' He whispered as he closed his hand slowly, forcing Pogue to choke. 'You know what I want. Do this and I will leave your precious family alone.'

Gritting his teeth Pogue drew in a shaky breath. 'I...' he never got to finish the sentance. With a warrior scream, I rushed through the rain, so fast I could see the droplets halt in what seemed to be midair, I hit Chase so hard we went flying. Landing on top of him, I punched him in the throat so hard his esophagus broke. Choking, I clenched his jaw squeezing, refusing to let him heal himself until his face was ashen, but I wasn't going to let him go out without using my power. I let up on my grip and leaned closer to him.

'You are a murderer, and I, I am the daughter of a Fury and just like her and every woman like me, I sentence you to die for your crimes.' I whispered in a cold voice so unlike my own. Touching his face, seconds later he was screaming in agony, while I sat watching him. Even with the staggering male behind me, I didn't stop staring at my prey even though I found myself suddenly exhausted.

'Jade, don't do it, you're not a killer,' a woman whispered from near the treeline. I looked up startled. I'd been expecting Pogue to try to convince me to kill him, but all I saw was the redhaired woman from last night, the school's counsellor May Riser. Her eyes were wild, as wild as her hair which was whipping around her pale face. She was wearing black pants, a freyed blood red tunic which was soaked, hugging her frame as she walked through the mist, appearing so quietly she seemed to be a spirit.

'Honey, you're not strong enough to kill him, if you try, you will die. Let him go.'

'He's trying to kill my family. He killed innocents, even his adoptive parents.'

'And he will die, the angel of death is here, can't you feel it? But it's not your job to take him. Let him go.' She ordered gently, kneeling, taking my arms in her hands, she pulled me off the moaning man.

'Here.' She said shoving me into the arms of Pogue who was staring at her in disbelief. Until she'd pushed me into his arms, I hadn't remembered I was naked. Pogue, neither cared, or hadn't noticed. I was practically covered in mud anyway but still...

'Let's get you inside.' He finally muttered.

'No.' I said planting my feet, watching as the woman knelt down and stared at Chase who was so transfixed by the beautiful woman he didn't even attempt to resist her.

'Chase Goodwin Pope, I hereby sentence you to death for murder.' May's voice was soft like a caress, yet detached as if she'd done this a thousand times, and maybe she had. She touched his head with the tips of her fingers. I stood transfixed as Chase's eyes rolled into his head. He gave one last shuddering breath and his body slumped to the ground. A second later, Pogue waved his hand, using his magic making me recoil, as Chase's body went up in blames before exploding into ashes. Turning, I noticed he was mostly healed and sighed.

'No more magic.' I said as he yanked off his soaked jacket and wrapped it around me. Instead of answering he kissed my forehead, while I turned to the woman who was watching us.

'Jade.'

'Are you my mother?' I asked bluntly but she only stared at me for a long moment slowly shaking her head.

'No, honey, I'm your aunt. I'm sorry I lied to you all these years but I had to watch over you.'

'In case I turned out to be psycho?'

'Only your mother and I know about you, we didn't know the outcome of such a pairing so I watched over you.'

'Are you going to kill me?' I asked as her pale face went so white it became translucent.

'Of course not. You are special, more special than we could have dreamed you would be.'

'Well I'm glad your experiment paid off.' I replied sourly as Reid, Caleb and Tyler appeared from the trees, running through the rain to get to us. Caleb skidded to a halt, and pulled me out of Pogue's arms. On the other side of the clearing the wolves emerged fully clothed, walking steadily to us. Warren's eyes were on mine and not blinking. I sensed his annoyance at Reid who was now holding me to his chest. I was being shuffled around like a toy but I wasn't going to complain about it.

'Let's get you inside.' Tyler said pulling me away. I sniffled as I stared at our destroyed play area. The trees I had climbed up, the times we'd scuffled in the dirt; it was all gone. I don't know why I had burst out crying. More than anything I felt relieved that the monster was dead, but for some unknown reason, I couldn't stop cyring.

'He destroyed everything. Look at it, it's all gone.' I whispered as the tears began to fall. I didn't complain or fight when Tyler scooped me up. Clinging to him like a drowned rat, I buried my head into his neck breaking down in sobs that shook my body.

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Loud famiiar snoring to my left alerted me the fact that I wasn't alone, wherever I was. I rolled over and hit someone warm and instantly an arm was wrapped around my belly, pulling me to someone's chest. Opening my eyes open a crack, I saw Tyler's scruffy face with his messy hair covering his eyes. Beside him, squeezed between him and Reid was the very old family dog, a rescued pittbull cross called Cooper.

Behind us, Caleb was lying on his back on the couch, snoring and baring way too much tummy. Yanking up the blankets, I was tucking him when Reid yawned, rolled over onto his stomach, checked his phone, muttered a curse word and proceeded to fall back to sleep. The other lump hidden across the room, under a quilt had to be Pogue because I couldn't see his face. Remembering last nights events, I sighed biting my lip.

Pogue had gotten plastered. Vomiting in potplants drunk. The other two weren't as bad, but Caleb, the most responsible, one had allowed them all to celebrate like hooligans while I sat by the poolside watching the moodlight on the water, absorbing what had happened. It had taken a while to calm down my crying, heck Tyler had to force me into the shower. I couldn't stand under the hot water, I just sat, absorbing what had just happened.

It was finaly over.

Chase was gone and we were finally safe. I'd also dwelled on the fact that I had almost killed him even though it would have meant my death. Strangely, I believed it would be worth it which made me wonder. Did my own life even matter to me? Or was I just a sacrifical lamb, ready to die for someone I loved? And why had Riser been watching over me all these years? Why wasn't my mother here to teach me about being a Fury? Riser had done a bang up job so far and had not been _any_ kind of teacher to me. The woman had known about me this whole time. I wouldn't have freaked out about knowing what I was, I would have been glad to know instead of having to traipse all over the goddamn country searching for answers.

I'd spent a good ten minutes being pissed offabout in while in the shower before I let it go.

I should be happy. Chase was gone, the world was safe from him and we could go about our lives. So why wasn't I content?

I scanned the room, watching my brothers peaceful slumber and shook my head as I got up. I checked Ty's phone, saw it was barely after eight and curled up. As usual, he pulled me close and I realized he'd been awake the whole time. Getting up, he pulled on his hoodie, hefted me to my feet and led me to the outside entertaining area, stepping into the sunshine and walked towards the pool.

'What's eating at you?' He asked as soon as he plopped onto a deckchair.

'Nothing...'

'We're safe, you should be happy.'

'I know...Am I, am I a monster?' I asked as tears welled up in my eyes.

'What?'

'May Riser...she's like me.'

'I know, Pogue filled me in.'

'We glossed over the whole man murdering wench part. Last night I was willing to kill him even if it meant my death. I was pissed that she took my kill.'

'It must be a wolf thing.'

'Wolves aren't killers, at least their not supposed to be. What if one day I go bad? Is there anyone in this world capable of stopping me? I'm just an experiment waiting to explode and Riser just watched the whole time and didn't even try to help me. Who the hell does that?'

'I don't know, kid, I wish I had the answers.'

'What do I do now? Am I supposed to go back to being a normal person? I'm not sure I can.'

Ty stayed silent for a long moment. 'I think going back to school and living your life is exactly what you're meant to do.'

'But...'

'You're right, we don't know what will happen, no point worrying until it does.'

I sighed. 'When did you get to be so wise?'

'Someone has to be the logical one.'

'Reid's the emo one then.' I supplied while he smirked as his eyes went hard.

'Sorry about assuming you two were uh sneaking around.'

'Yeah, that was pretty gross.'

'That Warren guy likes you though.' He said swiftly changing the subject.

'Don't even go there.'

'We should...'

I sighed. I didn't even know what to think about him. 'He's like Reid. He's impulsive, moody and I just don't know...' I trailed off with a heavy sigh.

'I miss the days when Tim was following you around.'

'God, I forgot all about him. Way to ruin a friendship though.' I muttered shooting him a dark look.

'I never told him to stay away from you. I just told him not to get you pregnant.'

'You fucking did not!' I exploded at him.

'I did,' he growled at me glowering at me because of my foul language. 'I didn't want my teen sister to be on one of those reality shows.'

'Oh please, I'm not that bloody stupid.' I muttered folding my arms.

'Girls do stupid shit for guys.'

'Did you say this to Warren? PLease tell me you didn't.' I asked weakly knowing the answer would definitely be a yes. As usual my older brother proved me right.

'The night he stayed in your treehouse.'

'Oh god,' I moaned. 'Out of all the things you were worried about, pregnancy was the top of your list?' I asked dismayed.

'Seems so unimportant now doesn't it?' He asked tilting his face to the sun.

'It's not going to happen, him and I. At least...I don't think I can.' I muttered but he just looked at me. Without reading his emotions I knew he didn't believe me.


End file.
